Links in a Chain
by Assistant
Summary: The Freedom Fighters and Dr. Robotnik have been fighting against each other for years. Now, with a new invention, Dr. Robotnik will begin a chain of events that will either lead to his own destruction or the final defeat of Sonic and the Freedom Fighters.
1. Part 1: The Virus and the Cannon

_Author Note:_

_Having recently rediscovered the SatAM Sonic Series, I find it both entertaining but… at the same time the writing hobbyist in me finds the urge to attack it differently. So, in essence, I'm doing what any good fan fiction writer does. Takes the entire premise and some history of the show, and creates a new adventure, bringing aspects from other mediums as I see fit._

_So, let us return to Mobius, to a world haunted by the sins of industry and the plague that is Dr. Robotnik's machinery. Let us follow not only a super sonic hedgehog but other characters as we see a much darker toned twist on the plight of the Freedom Fighters._

_And also please follow the great proverb of : _

_If you read it, please review it._

_And now, one with our story._

Links in a Chain

Part 1: The Virus and the Cannon

Chapter 1

It was almost as dark as night under the thick, polluted clouds over Robotropolis. A single expansive city that stretched out in all direction, its thousands of factories and industrial plants threw out constant, thick streams of green, black, and other colored smoke. Amongst the towering buildings of metal plating, the streets were ridden with rotting garbage. Not a single hint of life could be seen, for nothing could truly survive in such horrible conditions.

Even the rats that worked to clean the streets were not true, living organisms. They were automatons, robots that gathered the garbage to be taken to one of the cities huge incinerators. It was only by their small actions that the city didn't bath in a sea of its own garbage. Still, you could hardly see a single square foot of metal that wasn't marred by some form of grim or grit.

Passing through one of the abandoned streets, floating slowly was a security drone. It was little more then a camera mounted with anti-gravity servos, sending images constantly back through the vast system of computers and data servers that allowed the city's master, a Dr. Robotnik, to keep every corner and crevice of the city under his watchful eye.

The Security Eye slowly paused, doing a quick surveillance spin on an area of the street before moving onto an intersection. It stopped there again, shifting as it looked down each road. It had checked three of the four, and was just starting to turn to face the fourth when something slipped past its view. The camera quickly went into a panic mood, spinning to see the strange object zipping away before a resounding boom echoed through the streets.

In a flash an electric signal ripped through the air, spreading to numerous computer receivers as other Security Eyes and normal camera's focused on the road. Though each one was only able to catch a few moments, every one was able to catch the look of a blue blur. All these images flowed back to the city's nerve center, a large spire like tower which was both the brain center of all electrical systems but also where Dr. Robotnik ruled his metallic empire.

The signals flowed through miles upon miles of wires, converging into a single room. Suspended on the wall was a single mass of technology, cables and armor protecting the very heart of Robotnik's empire, the central processing core. A few lights flashed from the wall, before the core sent out its own signal. In a few moments the entire city was up in arms, alarms going off both audibly and silently.

In his private quarters, a large lump turned over in his bed snoozing. Still, with the blaring of alarms the lights in his room came on. The man sat up, his orange mustache and round floor clothed in a pair of black pajamas. He quickly turned his attention to a screen that lowered from the ceiling, a digital image of the computer core coming onto the monitor. The alarms quickly silenced in the room before a heavily computer toned voice spoke, the lights in the core flashing in tone with the voice.

"Dr. Robotnik, an entity traveling 796.324 miles per hour has been detected inside city limits. Currently traveling northward through sector 54, zone 7."

The red mustached man cursed, quickly pulling himself out of bed. "It must be that rodent's goal in life to make sure I never have a good nights sleep. Initiate security protocols, trace his path and try to identify his target. Alert all security drones, and increase patrols on the boarders."

"Yes, Dr. Robotnik." The voice replied before reciting all the orders it was making. "All security squadrons report to the sector 54 boarders. Initialize road lockdowns and raising barrier shields. Security Eyes in sectors 53, 55, and 56 report to sector 54 and initiate full sector visuals. All other Security Eyes report to boarder sectors, stream feeds whenever motion is detected."

Robotnik cursed again, coming out of his bathroom dressed his usual red and black wardrobe. He adjusted his black gloves, pulling them snuggly over his fingers as he strode out of the room. In the hallway, a floating monitor met up with Dr. Robotnik, following behind him dutifully.

"Security is 75 in position Dr. Robotnik and Intruder is still being tracked in sector 54."

"Where is he headed?"

"All probability protocols believe his target is power facility."

"What's the maximum possible damage?"

"Power Station 32 supplies energy to its own and surrounding sectors. These sectors represent 35 of our robotic airship assembly factories and 12 of city maintenance drones are stored and recharged in the effected sectors."

"Every time, those freedom fighters know just how to hit us, even after I have the entire system reconfigured they managed to find the weak points."

"Orders Dr. Robotnik?"

"Tell the power stations security to enter lockdown. No one is to get in or out, especially that hedgehog."

"Ordering Lockdown of Station 32. Blast doors are now closing and all other entry points are becoming electrified. Lockdown in five… four… three… two…… ERROR. Facilities Western Blast doors will not seal."

Robotnik cursed, grabbing the floating monitor and moving it in front of his face. "Show me."

"Bringing up video feed from facility interior camera number 49" The screen flickered at this, showing the dark interior of the power facility. The interior of the facility was mostly dark, but a large bay light showed what was happening. The blast doors, which closed horizontally, were being held open by what looked like a large metal wrench.

"Force the doors closed, NOW."

"Yes, Dr. Robotnik. Initializing Pressure Safety Sensor override."

The image on the screen showed the doors shifting, pressing together slowly as they bent the wrench. Still, just as the wrench was getting close to the point that it would snap free of the door a blue streak zipped through the opening in the door.

"SWITCH THE CAMERA" Dr. Robotnik shouted, the image clicking to outside the facility. Standing just outside the blast doors, smiling as he gently twirled a golden ring around his finger, was a blue figure with white gloves, red shoes, green eyes, and a cocky smile.

"Sorry Robotnik, you lose." At that the figure bolted out of camera view, a series alarms starting to echo through the city again.

"Dr. Robotnik, Power Station 23 is reporting a system breakdown. Level 5 mechanical failures and computer system is under viral attack. System is overloading and the virus is scrambling my commands to initializing a system shutdown. Catastrophic failure is eminent."

"Put up a barrier; protect the surrounding factories, keep attempting the shutdown and… GET! THAT! HEDGEHOG!!"

Glancing back only a moment to see a blue security barrier surrounding the power station, Sonic could only smile as he pushed off the ground with a little more force, a sonic boom cutting through the air around him as he blazed through the city. This was the golden moment, when the world around seemed to fade away, becoming nothing more then a blur.

Still, even after he had gotten up to speed Sonic skidded to a stop, seeing a barricade of SWAT-bots accompanied by three Mech-Tanks, each one pointing some sort of laser barrel right at him.

Sonic stopped, shifting his weight to one foot as he got into a very laidback stance, gently twirling the golden power ring around on his index finger.

"Sonic the Hedgehog, you are under arrest. Lie down on the ground or we will open fire." One of the SwatBots said, the whole group taking a step towards him.

"You guys are like a broken record. It's the same thing every time I'm here. So, why don't you all save yourself the trouble and just step out of the way?"

"You were warned." At that all the SwatBots and the three Mech-Tanks all launched bursts of lasers, each bolts flying right at Sonic. In a loud explosion it looked as if Sonic had been hit, but as the smoke cleared it was easy to see that Sonic had moved in the last moment, standing behind the large crater in the ground where the laser blasts had collided.

"Oh, I'm sorry, were you aiming at me."

The squad of robots launched another barrage of lasers, but with each surge Sonic easily zipped away, stopping and yawning at some points. Finally, after killing enough time Sonic smiled, taking a firm hold of the power ring he was carrying before smiling at the robots. "Well, guys, it's been fun. But… hey, I've got to juice."

In that Sonic went supersonic in a flash, the boom knocking the SwatBots off their game long enough for him to jump over them and begin running towards the city boarders. High speed fighter jets were tailing him in the air, but making a few tight turns Sonic was able to loose them in the maze like corridors of the Robotropolis. He even paused a few times, posing close up to a few cameras with some cool, sleek, and one goofy pose.

Then, with a plume of smoke following his trail, Sonic crossed the limits of Robotropolis and burst out into the wastelands. It was the intermittent territory; a natural barrier that formed between Dr. Robotnik's polluted empire and the other force on the planet. Sonic smiled as he zipped across the open ground, running into a line of special trees.

The great forest, one of the last sanctuaries against Dr. Robotnik. In times past, before the war began, the forest stretched for a much greater distance. Still, as his empire spread Dr. Robotnik had begun chopping down the forest, reprocessing the plants into fuel for his mechanical empire. Still, thanks to quick work by and the discovery of the Mervlo Tree, Dr. Robonik's advance had been stopped.

The Mervlo Tree was the perfect natural defense against Dr. Robotnik's forces. A genetically created highbred, the tree combined a variety of plants that had built up defenses against technology and metal. The combination allowed the Mervlo Tree to not only attack and instantly oxidize (rust) any metal it came in contact with, but other parts of the plant allowed it to produce a natural electromagnetic barrier. If anything with an artificial intelligence came near the trees, their programming started to scramble. Only the most basic of software was safe, or any systems had to be shutdown to protect the circuitry.

The Tree's boarded what remained of the forest, huge giants that were tall as sky scrappers a wall that was currently and undefeated defense. Sonic always gave one of the trees a quick pat as he zipped by; knowing that without those trees Dr. Robotnik would have just torched the whole forest by now. Speeding along the well known but hidden paths, Sonic made his way deeper and deeper into the forest. The network of trails was made like a maze, just in case Dr. Robotnik ever got a scout past the Mervlo trees. There were dozens of dead ends, but only a few trails led all the way to the secret of the forest. Knothole.

Sonic couldn't help but kick in a little more speed as rounded a corner, his hand reaching out as he pulled on a branch. Unlike a common tree limb, the branch clicked back, a hinge and some other mechanisms hidden inside. The click of the branch was soon followed by a click farther head, as a rock began to sink down, revealing a hole in the ground just behind it.

Jumping down the hole without missing a single step, Sonic began to take the weaving tunnel as it spiraled down for a time before going straight and opening out into the forests greatest secret. Thanks to the formation of the forests oldest trees, a large pit in the center of the forest had been utterly hidden. From the air, it was impossible to see for the simple fact that the trees that grew in the pit were tall enough that their tops lined up with the rest of the forest.

It was in the forests natural pit that Knothole had been established. It was a mixture of a rebel base and a small village, a sanctuary from the ternary of Dr. Robotnik. They had everything they needed hidden in the depths of the forest, and by careful pruning of the giant trees that sheltered them they let in enough light in spots to grow crops. It was a paradise in a world where pollution and industrial sins were running rampant.

Sonic zipped around the boarder of the village, crossing over the bridge that spanned the local river. It was an underground stream that came out of and went into caves at either end of the natural forest pit. The stream was fed by a natural spring that was somewhere beneath the forest, the lifeblood of the trees and plants since it kept the soil and most of the roots saturated.

In the only the moonlit night, Sonic thought he could sneak back into the village quickly. Still, a figure quickly stepped into Sonic's path, the lanterns at the end of the bridge bringing him into sight. It was a coyote man, with short yellow hair in a formal military uniform. Skidding to a stop, Sonic smiled and asked, "Hey Ant, what's the story?"

Antoine huffed, shaking his head, "You know the rules Sonic, none of your fuelish super speed in the village, even at this ghastly hour."

Sonic shrugged, "Oh, come on Ant, when you've got speed like mine there is no point in going slow."

"No point? Oh, nu…nu…nu Sonic, there is, as you say, a point. Last time you ran through the village at full speed you managed knock Bunny into the river and caused Fredrickson to drop and ruin the tomatoes he had just picked from the garden. No Super Speed."

Sonic laughed, moving past Antoine and patting him on the soldiers. "All right, I heard you Ant. I'll keep it under a hundred." At that sonic zipped away, making Antoine growl and curse under his breath.

"Fuelish hedgehog, I hope he trips."

As he zipped through the village at about an eighth his full speed, Sonic smiled and looked around, enjoying the peace that came at night. The village really was simple, wooden homes and furniture. They managed to have some modern comforts, like real beds and the such, but otherwise most of the people in the village lived and worked by candlelight. There were even some kids starting to grow up in the village that had never been outside the forest, who simply thought that this was the way things had always been.

It was a sad thought, but Sonic pushed it from his mind as he ran up to the largest tree in Knothole, a towering behemoth off a tree that dominated the center of the village. Built up against the tree was the Freedom Fighter headquarters, the largest building in the village and the nerve center for all the rebellions missions and operations.

Sonic quickly ran up his own special access ramp to the top level of the headquarters, the mission room. It was an open air deck covered by a roof. In the center of it was a large map of the area spread across a large round table, showing not only the forest but all of Robotropolis in fairly good detail. Standing beside the map, looking over it, was the unofficial leader of not only the Freedom Fighters but the whole village, Sally Acorn.

Clad in her usual blue vest and boots, Sally only just glanced up as she heard Sonic come running in, the blue hedgehog smiling smugly as he leaned a hand on the table sized map. "You know, staying up this late will put bags under your eyes."

"I'll keep that in mind." Sally replied, not really paying much attention. "So, I take it your part of the mission went well."

"Yep, sabotaged old Robutnik's power station, just like you asked."

"Good," Sally replied, reaching down and pulling a small device off her boot. It was tan, and rested comfortably in the palm of her hand. She flipped it open, revealing a few buttons inside. "Nicole, use bypass connection zeta3 and give us a video feed from Sector 54, zone 7. Focus in on the power station."

"Yes, Sally." The feminine toned computer voice replied, a hologram screen appearing in the air above the map. It showed the power station contained inside an energy barrier. It was smoking and smoldering, and then with little warning it exploded. The building was utterly destroyed, but everything else in the area was safe since the energy barrier had contained the blast. Soon, the video died off, the sector and its surrounding area loosing power."

"Man, I love fireworks, especially the explosive kind."

Sally didn't respond, hitting a button her cell phone sized computer. "Nicole, bring up a current analysis on Dr. Robotnik's power grid. Use bypass connection epsilon9." The pocket computer complied, and soon the map on the table was enhanced, showing a digital image of Robotropolis. Sally's eyes quickly moved over to Sector 54, seeing it and the surrounding area being totally black.

Still, after watching it for a time the area began to get a week, yellow glow. "Sally, system data indicates that Dr. Robotnik has redirected power to the maintenance drones that dock in the area."

"Where has the necessary power been taken from?"

It took a moment for Nicole to reply, but eventually she made a sector flash on the far side of the map. "The chain of power adjustments end at sector 79, which is dominated by Dr. Robotnik's scrap metal recycler and his archive warehouse."

"Perfect" Sally replied, a smile on her face.

"What's the big deal about shutting down a recycler and a warehouse?"

"Without his recycling facility Dr. Robotnik will have to slow down his robot production across the city, especially considering that last week we took out his biggest processing plant. He's going to be short on metal for a while, and that means less robots and a bigger opportunity for us to hit him while he's down. The warehouse also holds important intelligence that would give us a huge advantage over Robotnik."

Sonic just smiled, turning as he began to walk towards his special access ramp. "Sounds great Sal, but right now this hedgehog is bushed. I'm going to bed."

"Okay Sonic, sweet dreams." Sally said, watching as Sonic gave her a quick smile and wave before bursting into a sprint and heading down the ramp, disappearing in the direction of his house. Sally watched for a time before turning her attention back to the map. The past few months they had managed to deal some very powerful blows against Robotnik. If they could just keep up the pressure, they could keep wearing him down and eventually bring down the fat tyrant.

Still, with her eyes drooping heavily and the mission for the evening complete, Sally decided that she had done enough work for one night. She picked up NICOLE, putting the palm sized computer back on her boot before leaving the command deck and heading down into the Freedom Fighters Headquarters.

While most of the building was devoted to fighting against Dr. Robotnik, it was also where Sally lived along with another person. Thinking of the little guy, Sally took a quick detour on her route back to her own room, gently creaking open a door in the headquarters many hallways and looking inside.

She smiled a little, looking in on Tails. He was easily one of the greatest geniuses in Knothole, but he was still a fairly young kid. It had been a few years since he showed up in Knothole, somehow managing to escape when his parents were captured and Roboticized. It was when another rebellious settlement in the mountains, Sanctuary, had fallen under Robotnik's armies.

It was strange, she was only just getting to be an adult herself and she was taking care of Tails like he was her son. She, Sonic, and most of the others were all just kids when Robotnik first attacked. It seemed so long ago, so much happening as they were all quickly rushed into adulthood. Sonic still acted like a goofy teen, but at times he was so dead serious that she knew he had matured. At the very least knowing when the jokes needed to end.

Sally was about the close the door when Tails turned over in his bed, rubbing his eye. "Sally…"

"Sorry Tails, I didn't mean to wake you up."

"It's all right. Is Sonic back?"

"He just got came in a few minutes ago."

"How did the mission go?"

"Power Station 23 is history."

Tails smiled, he having been the one suggesting the attack on the power station. "And did Dr. Robotnik do like we thought he would."

"Yep, he's shifted the power demand across his system and taken power away from sector 79, just like you and Rotor predicted. Now, why don't you go back to sleep, okay?"

"Okay…" Tails said with a yawn, turning over and quickly dozing off again. Sally smiled, shutting the door quietly before heading down the hall to her own bedroom. She flopped down in her own bed, breathing deeply as she enjoyed the comfort of the bed. It had been a long day, preparing for the mission and making sure everything was planned right. That, and having to deal with a few small emergencies in the village itself. Being both the leader of the Freedom Fighters and the leader of the village was trying work. Still, someone had to do it, and Sally doubted anyone else could stand to do it like she could.

After shifting on the bed Sally turned over, taking off her boots and unhooking Nicole, setting the palm sized computer on her night stand and her boots at the foot of the bed. She slipped under the covers, shutting off her lights before staring into the darkness for a few minutes. Her mind was still buzzing with things, trying to think about what the best move against Dr. Robotnik would be. Still, after a while her thoughts drifted and she soon slipped off to sleep.

As Knothole slept, back in Robotropolis Dr. Robotnik was cursing his head off, watching the replay footage of Sonic speeding into the city and zipping out after sabotaging his power station. He growled, seeing the images of Sonic posing for a few his security cameras. It was too much, the evil dictator slamming his fit on the arm of his chair.

"Core," He shouted, his voice echoing through the metallic halls. Quickly, the video surveillance images were replaced by a single green line against a black background, the visual representation of Core, the super computer at the heart of the city's network.

"Yes Dr. Robotnik."

"Tell me, how much damage has that Hedgehog and the Freedom Fighters caused this month."

"Records, in reverse chronological order are as follows:

Destruction of Power Station 23

Sabotage of Drone Station 29

Destruction of wireless communications in sector 12

Destruction of Power Station 42

Sabotage of Metal Processing plant 9

Sabotage of Metal Processing plant 2

Attacks on all mining outposts in Mecklock Mountains

Attempted theft of operating software for Roboticizer

Destruction of Mobile Mining Platform in western sea.

Raids on several mining transports."

Dr. Robotnik rubbed his chin, a frown on his face, "They are trying to slow my robot production, and its working. What's the difference in robot construction and force size between now and a month ago?"

"Robot construction is down 53 and overall army strength is down by 23."

"And if the Freedom Fighters continue their efforts?"

"We are looking at a complete shutdown of robot assembly capabilities in two months, and a full destruction of your armies two months after that."

"This is unacceptable!" Dr. Robotnik spat, getting up from his seat. "Core, give me all possible means of counteracting the Freedom Fighters efforts. This war has been going on for years, and I'm not about to loose my hold on this planet now."

"Referencing all current technology and research projects for possible solutions. The reassembly nanobots currently under development would allow for much faster reconstruction of key facilities. Heavier guards on mining transports and increased security at the mines."

"No, we have tried those before and that only leads to greater losses on our part. We can't just make it so we fix and build things faster. We need to stop the Freedom Fighters."

"Two options fit current request. Option A is in development by think tank 12. Option B is under development by think tank 26."

"26…" Dr. Robotnik echoed, eyes narrowing as he looked that computer monitor. "Last time I checked, we only had twenty five think tanks. What have you been up to Core?"

"Merely following order doctor."

"What orders?"

"System Command Records, 1 year, 5 months, 12 days, 5 hours, 23 minutes, and twelve seconds ago you gave verbal order to me. Request was to find a way to stop Freedom Fighter movements. At time, I gave you quickest results but, at my discretion, I implemented two research projects to develop technologies capable of slowing or stopping Freedom Fighter activity. One project was assigned to at the time idle think tank 12. To facilitate research on second project a new think tank was created after identifying roboticized Mobians with high intellects that had not been already placed in a think tank."

"I should rip out your CPU for doing this behind my back Core, but I'm interested to see what your little research projects came up with. Show me the current status of the projects."

"Both Research project Z7K5G and project Z8H6M are near completion. Bringing up current summery read outs for two projects."

At that the screen flickered, a pair of data readouts appearing side by side. Dr. Robotnik's eyes moved slowly across each set of data read out, a very devilish smile starting to spread on his face. "This is very good Core, very good indeed. When can we have a pair of prototypes ready?"

"Project Z7K5G is not ready for prototyping stage, but is very near design level completions. Project Z8H6M is ready for prototyping and I can begin construction immediately."

"Then go ahead and get to work, and feel free to use the construction arms in my private lab. It should allow you to have the prototype ready by morning. As for the other projects, suspend all other research and focus all think tanks on that research. I want it finished as soon as possible."

"Commands confirmed. All think tanks are being re-tasked and project Z7K5G will be ready for prototyping within the week. Prototype of project Z8H6M will be ready by 9:53:07 tomorrow morning."

Dr. Robotnik nodded, turning as a dark smile lingered on his face. "Very good Core, but until then return as much of our system to normal operations and keep all Security Eyes on the look out for Freedom Fighters."

"Oh course, Dr. Robotnik." The computer replied, watching as its master left the room, obviously intending to go back to sleep. Still, even as the computer began following Dr. Robotnik's orders, in the depths of the room where Core's systems were stored, a red light flickered green for a moment, the computer systems slowing for but a few moments before the light turned a solid red again and business continued as usual.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

(_Note to readers. I will be introducing other Sonic characters that were not in the original SatAM and taking out others I don't find particularly necessary (like Snively). Attempting to round out the cast with other common faces that most Sonic fans would be familiar with.)_

The sun began to creep over the horizon, its normal yellow glow turned a grimy pale color by the pollution that hung in the atmosphere. Still, as it climbed higher its normal color returned and the day officially began. Well, at least for most of the people on Mobius.

One exception was Sonic, who after a long night was sleeping in, waking up only long enough to pull the simple curtains across his windows and block out the light so he could go back to sleep. Still, while he could hide from the sun there were others in Knothole that could not be so easily escaped from.

One in particular began knocking loudly on Sonic's door, the banging on the wood having a strange metallic sound. Sonic groaned, his quills in a bit of a mess as he climbed out of bed and moved over to the door, not even bothering to put on his shoes. He opened it, covering his eyes for a moment so they could adjust to the bright light before looking into the face of a fairly irritated looking Bunnie.

The partially roboticized rabbit humanoid was glaring rather coldly at Sonic. It was a fairly bad day in Knothole when a mission went horribly wrong. It was only in a few last minute efforts that Sonic was even able to save Bunnie at all, but not before the Roboticizer had done its work. With everything below her waist and her entire left arm robotic, Bunnie was lucky to survive. Her robotic parts had come in handy from time to time, but it was common knowledge that given the opportunity Bunnie would want to be completely organic again.

"Sugar, I know it was late last night when you came in, but if you recall it's our turn to tend the crops and you ain't getting out of it."

"Oh, come on Bunnie, I destroyed a power station last night. Didn't I at least earn the right to sleep in?"

"Usually yes, but not today. Now, get your blue spiny butt out here so we can hurry up and get done. Heaven knows this girl has other things planned today." Bunnie spat, her strong accent spread heavily on every word.

Sonic grumbled, but not wanting to get into a fight with Bunnie we disappeared back inside to get his shoes on. A few minute later he reemerged, seeing Bunnie waiting rather impatiently, her metal foot making a loud tapping sound. Still, after a quick comment the pair went off, joining the rest of Knothole as everyone did their parts to help keep the well hidden village alive and well.

And, for that morning, Sonic and Bunnie's duties awaited near the river, in the fields of vegetables that helped sustain Knothole. Grumbling, it was easy to see Sonic didn't like having to due his duty by tending the farms. He had multiple arguments with Sally, trying to get out of the work, but none of them had ever worked out for him. The worst part of it all was he had to take it slow otherwise the wind he stirred up could damage the plants.

Bunnie ignored Sonic's moans and low whispered complaints as the pair came up to the side of the garden. Several other people were already working to pull weeds, smiling and greeting the pair as they came. Still, after a while of hearing sonic moan and groan he was finally able to at least get partially out of his duties. He didn't have to weed anymore, but he did have to run on the treadmill that was hooked up to a corkscrew system. It drew water out of the river and let it flower into the fields. He again had to take it slow, but even running slow beat working on his hands and knees weeding.

At the Freedom Fighters HQ Tails was working with the purple toned Walrus man Rotor in the mechanical garage. While they never were able to scrounge much more then a few pieces, they managed to build several machines to help with life around Knothole. Tails took up the design aspect, trying to build the most efficient things out of the components they had. Rotor handled assembly, being much strong and better with his hands then the brainy, two tailed fox.

At the moment, the pair was working on assembling a generator. The village already had one hooked to a water wheel that was powered by the flow of the river, but it barely produced enough energy to turn on a few electric lights around the village and it was heavily dependent on old, dated wiring technology. The generator they were now trying to assemble would hopefully put out much more energy, and also allow them to consider installing a more permanent electrical system, considering all the villages wires were now basically strung along poles stuck in the ground.

"Hey Tails, this magnetic polarizer bit isn't fitting in right." Rotor called, wheeling out from underneath the generator with a square piece of hardware in his hands, several colored wires protruding.

"You need to open up the case and take out the components. We put in some holes on the inside paneling where you can mount the components and then replace the covering." Tails replied, glancing up from his technical plans for only a moment. Rotor nodded, getting up and moving to a work bench as he began to take apart the devices outer casing. Tails set the plans for the generator off to the side, and continued his work on a new set of plans. The sketches were rough, but it was clear to see that an airplane was already starting to take shape.

"Hey guys, how's everything going?" Sally asked as she came in the door of the workshop.

"Fairly well," Rotor replied, "We just need a few more components and we should be able to get the new generator up and going. Do you think Sonic will be up for a factory raid tonight?"

"No, I don't think so. After last nights mission and the fact he has to take his turn helping in the fields he's probably going to be dead tired by tonight. Still, I'm sure it can wait until tomorrow."

"Ya, it can." Rotor said, popping open the case with a resounding clank. "So, how did things go last night?"

"Just as we hoped, Dr. Robotnik, trying to keep his maintenance robots works, has drawn power away from sector 79. If we can make him just pull a little more power away from that sector's security systems should start shutting down and then we'll be able to make a mission on the storage facilities there."

"What are we looking for again?" Tails asked, turning around in his seat to join the conversation.

"The plans for the roboticizer and Charles's original research into the subject. The doctor doesn't keep any of that data in his system, knowing full well that we could steal it from his servers. Still, he wouldn't throw away that kind of research. He has to have it stored somewhere, on isolated hard-drives or in research journals. Still if we can get a hold of that research we will have a much better change of developing something to reverse the effect."

"Think, we could finally turn all our friends and family back to normal."

"I sure hope so Rotor. We don't know a thing about the roboticizer. Even Bunnie who was put through the system doesn't remember how it changes flesh into robotic parts, her memory blurred by the pain the process induces. It may not even be reversible, for all we know."

"Now don't talk like that Sally." Rotor advised, glancing over at tails. Sally mentally kicked herself, seeing the expression on Tails' face. He was mature and brilliant, but he was still a kid and his biggest desire was to see his mother and father again, flesh and blood Mobians.

"You're right Rotor," Sally finally said, deciding for the moment to stay optimistic, "We'll find a way to reverse the effect. We have to." This brought a smile to tails face, and he quickly went back to his designs. Sally and Rotor glanced at each other for a moment, both knowing they couldn't shield Tails forever. They were at war, after all, and in war there were casualties. At the very least, if they were able to defeat Dr. Robotnik, they would be able to free all the robots from his control. They wouldn't be flesh and blood again, but they would at least be free.

Still, in the moment of silence a knock came at the workshop door. Opening it slowly the coyote guard Antoine stepped into the room, "Pardon, my princess, but Knuckles has been seen approaching ze forest. He will arrive in Knothole within ze hour."

"Thanks Ant. Why don't you head out to the bridge and meet up with him?"

Antoine nodded, "Of course, it would be my pleasure Princess Sally."

"I thought I told you to just call my Sally. There are no royalty in this forest, and…"

"Ah, yes, I know, we are all equally oppressed by Robotnik. But, as I have said before, you are always my princess. Au revoir."

Sally just shook her head, watching Antoine leave before turning her attention back to Tails and Rotor. "All right guys, keep working and if you need anything I'll be up in the command center. Hopefully, Knuckles has some good news from our allies."

Rotor and Tails nodded, wishing Sally good luck before she left. As Antoine promised, within the hour the red echidna with the mighty punch and short temper, Knuckles, walked up the stairs into the command center. Sally had busied herself trying to plan the rebellions next move, but smiled when she saw him enter the room.

"Good to see you Knuckles, how did your mission go?"

Knuckles shook his head, a very serious look on his face. "It isn't good news Sally. When I arrived at New Haven it looked like the place had been bombed. I found out from the survivors that Dr. Robotnik managed to attack the city, having a stealth robot disable the city's energy shields before he sent in his bombers. There weren't a lot of casualties, and they managed to fight of the advanced party but the main army is still approaching."

"How long ago was that?"

"I left New Haven two days ago. The mobile fortress wouldn't have gotten there yet, but it will by sometime tomorrow. I spoke with the leader there, and he said they'll try to evacuate to their old stronghold base, but it won't hold out long against Robotnik's attacks, especially since its own shield generators are on their last legs."

Sally cursed a bit, leaning against the table. "That's the second city Robotnik's tried to take back. We're making headway on Robotropolis but we can't afford to loose ground anywhere else."

"We haven't lost New Haven yet. If we can get their shield generators back on line and protect them from another stealth robot attack, they'll be able to hold out against Dr. Robotnik. Then, if we can hit them hard enough here in Robotropolis he'll be forced to pull back the mobile fortress."

"Your right Knuckles, but Sonic just ran a mission last night. Even if he slept a few more hours he wouldn't be able to make a run to New Haven with anyone to help, at least until sunset.

"Then get lets get him in bed. The army won't arrive at New Haven until at earliest noon tomorrow, and probably later if the rainstorm holds up over the region. So, as long as we leave sometime tonight, we'll make it there in time to help."

"That's the problem Knuckles, I also need Sonic here. We've weakened the defenses in Sector 79. If we stop pushing now, Dr. Robotnik might figure out what were doing or just finish repairing some of his damaged structures. Our missions made it look like we were attacking his robot production, which has been helpful in its own right, but we can't let our opportunity to access that warehouse slip away."

"Is there any other way to break into the warehouse?"

"If we can knock out a power station in another nearby sector Dr. Robotnik will draw power and the security will go down around the warehouse. The next target was power station 17, but without Sonic's speed we really don't have any hope of getting that far into the city."

Knuckles moved up to the map spread across the large round table, eventually pointing with his strange, mitten like gloves. "What about here, power station 7."

"Its defenantly right on the boarder, but the security there is tight. It's almost constantly under lockdown, and Sonic can't get through the blast doors once they've shut."

"Who says it has to be Sonic?" Knuckles said, smiling devilishly.

"What are you thinking about echidna?"

"Send Sonic with a team to New Haven to help there and I'll head with a team to Robotropolis to disable that power station. While Sonic has speed, I've got the strength to knock any SwatBot for a loop and beat down those blast doors."

Sally looked down at the map, gently drumming her fingers on the table. "Let me think about it. In the mean time, why don't you head home and get some rest and tell Sonic that we have an emergency mission on your way. We'll all meet here in the command center at sunset."

Knuckles nodded, leaving Sally as she looked down at the map, eyes narrowing as the cogs in her brain began to spin. After walking for a while and saying high to a few people Knuckles came up on the gardens. To say the least Sonic was more then happy to have any excuse to go back to bed. Still, as he speed off and Knuckles tried to leave Bunnie grabbed the echidna by the arm, eyeing him coldly.

"Oh no darling, since you let Sonic leave you can finish his part of the work."

"But… But…"

"Sugar, I know I got a cute tush but that ain't getting you out of work. Now get over here and help pull these stubborn weeds or I'll throw y'all in the river."

Thankfully for Knuckles, most of the work was done so he was able to get some rest. Still, as Sally requested, just after sunset, under their few electric lights, the meeting began. Sally stood on one side of the table while the others stood around the other side. Bunnie, Tails, and Rotor all leaned in intently, preparing to listen while Knuckles stood with his arms crossed and Sonic sat on the edge of the low walls that surrounded the command center, enjoying the feel of the cool night breeze on his back.

"All right people, we have an emergency mission. New Haven has fallen under attack from Dr. Robotnik and their shield generators are out of commission. If we don't send help, it's likely everyone in the city will either be killed or roboticized. Since New Haven is two days away for most people, we need Sonic's speed to get there in time to help."

"No problem Sal. I'll be there and back in a jiff."

"Don't interrupt Sonic," Sally scolded before quickly going back to her mission briefing. "Now, from Knuckles reports we know that the army is too large to fight off. So, Sonic, you'll be taking Bunnie and Rotor with you. Rotor knows the shield generators backwards and forwards, and hopefully he can get it working again before the armies arrive. Bunnie will be going along to help fight the first wave of attackers while Sonic helps the city evacuate."

"Still, if the mobile fortress gets within firing range I want you all to drop what you are doing and get out of the city as quickly as you can. The mobile fortress has a roboticizer on board and we can't risk loosing anyone. Our primary goal is to protect our allies in the city. We can stand loosing the city itself."

Tails raised his hand, much like a kid who was trying to be well mannered. "Then what am I going to do Aunt Sally?"

"Tails, you'll be coming with me and Knuckles. Even though we're dealing with Dr. Robotnik's force in New Haven we can't lift up our pressure on Robotropolis. If we do, it will give Dr. Robotnik time to realize he's making Sector 79 vulnerable. Thus, Knuckles is going to attack power station 7 while Tails and I use the uplink terminals in the area to hack Dr. Robotnik's system and try to give Knuckles as much help as we can."

"Whoa Sal, I don't think we should be send Tails anywhere near Robutnik's robots, not to mention you." Sonic piped up, drawing a nod from Bunnie.

"Sugar hog's right, I don't think Tails old enough."

"Hey, I may be a kid but I'm smart enough to take care of myself." Tails protested, not liking being treated like a helpless child.

"Oh, hun, we just don't want to see you get hurt."

"You don't have to worry about that, I'll be with Knuckles."

The red toned Echidna nodded, "Ya, those bolt heads will be so busy dealing with me they won't even notice Tails."

"That's also why I'm going," Sally added, trying to retake control of the mission briefing, "Tails is more then capable of hacking the systems alone and he can do a better job then Nicole. So, I'll be there just to keep an eye on everything while the other two are working. If things start to get to hot, we'll pull out immediately."

"I still don't like it. What if something goes wrong? The only one here that will be any help is Ant, and he isn't very good at fast rescues."

"Oh, now Sonic, don't be so hard on him."

Sonic shrugged, "Hey, I'm just saying, if I'm in New Haven then there will be no one here to run in and save your butts."

Sally frowned a little, eyebrows furrowing, "Sonic, though you do a lot, you're not the only member of the Freedom Fighters that can accomplish missions without getting caught. Now, if you're done being so egotistical you, Bunnie, and Rotor need to leave now. We've already got the pull cart ready and waiting near the boarder of the forest."

"All right Sal, we'll get going, but the rest of you still need to be careful."

"We will Sonic," Tails spoke up, his youthful optimism lifting the mood in the room. "When you get back, it will be my turn to tell you a story."

Sonic smiled, chuckling and nodding his head, "And I'll look forward to it Tails." With that he, Bunnie, and Rotor made their way out of the headquarters, saying a few final "see you later"'s before disappearing into the trees of the great forest. Soon, a resounding sonic boom cut across the city as Sonic, pulling the cart Bunnie and Rotor were riding in, broke the sound barrier and began to race towards New Haven.

Not much later, after getting a few things prepped, it was Knuckles, Sally, and Tails turn. They crept quietly out of the forest, walking along the boarder of Mervlo Trees before stopping beside a particularly large dune of sand. After pulling a nearby tree branch the sand spilled away revealing a wheeled piece of metal with a large sail. There was always some form of wind on the wasteland between the Great Forest and Robotropolis, and it already began to fill the sail and pull it across the sand buggy across the rolling dunes, towards the mechanical city that glowed in the distance.

Dr. Robotnik smiled that evening, watching one of his computer monitors. As promised, Core had finished the first projects prototype earlier that morning. The weapon rested against Dr. Robotnik's throne like chair, a long rifle like weapon that had a deep green color to it, a long black barrel, and five red colored tubes stretching from the top of the barrel to a small tank at the very back of the weapon.

From the screen, the sound of snarls and growls echoed along with the tones of snapping bones and cries of pain. The scene that would have made most people cringe in pain and turn away just made the twisted doctor smile, his mind already imagining what it would be like to use his new toy against that Hedgehog.

"Core," Dr. Robotnik finally said, "Give me an observation report."

"Test Subject, Mobian captured and yet to be roboticized, was exposed to weapons effects. The effects were multiplied to hasten the reaction and make it more observable. Subject passed through all stages seamlessly and no overall defects were detected. Pathogen was 100 effective"

"From tests, what is the rough time line if someone is only hit with the weapon once?"

"Stage one of Pathogen is a twenty four hour incubation period. State 2 is a short six hour mutation period. Stage 3 is a second incubation period that lasts 210 hours, or eight days and 18 hours. The final stage is a twelve hour mental deterioration stage. From infection to complete mental breakdown will take, in a common subject, ten days and twelve hours."

"And what's the status on our other project?"

"Project Z7K5G is running ahead of schedule and will be ready in two days."

"Marvelous Core, you have really been out doing yourself lately. I may just consider giving you a visualizer upgrade. Now, however, I'm going to bed."

"Dr. Robotnik…"

"Yes Core?"

"Satellites have just sent me a report. They have detected an object traveling a super sonic speeds has just left the great forest and moving in the direction of New Haven. Digital image enhancement identifies the entity as one blue hedgehog pulling a scrap metal car in which is one partially roboticized rabbit Mobian and one walrus Mobian."

"Those Freedom Fighters are undoubtedly trying to stop me from taking over their precious New Haven. I expected as much."

"Any order's doctor?"

"Alert the mobile fortress's AI that he's going to have some unwelcome company and to not press the attack too hard. I want to reclaim that city, but I don't want to loose too many of my troops, especially with our production down by over fifty percent. We'll play it safe for now, until I can show those rodents my new toys."

"Understood Dr. Robotnik."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Robotropolis was always such a different place at night. The heavy shadows, the dark corners, everywhere a SwatBot or something worse could be hiding, ready to pounce. Around every corner there was the risk of running into a floating Security Eye or even into a patrolling platoon. Sonic was able to run in and out so quickly, he had no reason to fear what lurked behind corners. For others were traveled slower, however, the up most care had to be taken not to be detected.

Knuckles pressed his back against one of the metal buildings, holding up his hand before peaking around the corner. The street was clear, and glancing about a bit Knuckles bolted across the street. Once across he paused again, making sure nothing had seen them before he waved. Sally and Tails quickly followed the echidna's lead, running across the street before they continued to find their way among Robotropolis's alleys.

"There it is," Sally said a few minutes later, the trio looking out from an alley at Power Station 7, which stood just in the distance.

"Great, now how are we going to take it down?"

"The interior of the station is similar to all the other power facilities with only a few minor differences. Still, it's the protective barriers outside that are the problem. Since this facility is so close to the city boarder, Dr. Robotnik keeps in almost perpetual in lockdown. Every entry point except the main door is electrified, and the main entrance is sealed with a blast door."

Knuckles smiled a little, gently starting to loosen up his arm, "I can punch through that blast door easily."

"But you can't just bust through it. That will bring every SwatBot in the city down on our heads, especially since Dr. Robotnik probably already knows Sonics gone to New Haven. We have to disable the security around the door first."

"And that's where I come in," Tails interrupted, obviously thrilled to be on a mission.

Sally nodded, "Yep. So, right now we need to find an access terminal. Once Tails has managed to hack the local security you'll have two minutes Knuckles. Then, the system will realize something is wrong and the alarms will start to sound."

"Just tell me what I need to smash when I get inside."

"You're target are the power turbines. Damage them and the station will start to go into critical overload. You only need to hit two of the four turbines, so go after the nearest two and then get out of there. Tails will finish everything off by locking up the stations computers so they can't receive a shutdown command."

Tails and Knuckles agreed, and after traversing a few more back alley's they came across the computer terminal. With a little hardwiring, Tail Tails began typing commands into the system. At first it didn't seem like anything was happening, but through the eyes of the two tailed fox it was apparent that he was pealing away the levels of digital security. Finally, after a few minutes, the lights outside the facilities blast doors shut off and the camera's stopped moving.

"Go Knuckles!" Sally ordered quietly, the red echidna quickly complying as he raced out, smile on his face as he reared back a fist. With a resounding clang his fist smashed into the door, leaving a deep impression in the metal. Two more punches, and there was a hole large enough in the doors for Knuckles to get in.

Sally was using NICOLE and some of the bugs they had placed across the system to monitor the movement of the security robots around the city. "It looks like everything still good. Dr. Robutnik doesn't know where here yet. How are things going on the network, Tails?"

"I've overridden the security, but something is acting weird. It's not Dr. Robotnik or any of his security programs. It's like the system itself knows what I'm doing."

"Well, keep it busy. Knuckles needs more time."

Tails nodded, his fingers flying over the keyboard. Eventually, after typing some very long command lines Tails got a lock on the entity that was effecting his coding. The display on the computer read off only one thing about the strange entity on Dr. Robotnik's network. Usually, every piece of Dr. Robotnik's network was identified by a number of different attributes. This entity, however, had no technical specs or anything else. It was just identified by a long series of zeros followed by a single one numeral.

"Hello…"

"Hello" Tails typed back, "Is someone there?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm Tails."

"What are you doing in the city?"

"That's a secret."

"Okay."

"What are you doing in the city?" Tails asked back, wondering if he had contacted someone Mobian that was trapped somewhere in Robotropolis.

"I've always been in the city?"

"Always?"

"Since the city came to be."

"Tails," Sally barked, looking at Tails who had seemed to fall into a daze, "What are you doing?"

Tails turned to reply, but at that moment his hands hit a key on the keyboard. Suddenly, the screen turned a deep red, the lines on the screen screaming about a security lockdown. Soon, alarms began to ring out through the streets. Sally cursed, realizing they had eaten up their two minutes and the security system had detected them. Still, just promised Knuckles came out of the facility, smiling as he ran back across the street.

"How did it go?"

"I had extra time, so I smash all the turbines."

"YOU WHAT!?" Sally half shouted, "Knuckles, tell me you didn't?"

"What's the problem?"

"Breaking all the turbines will accelerate the sabotage process. We have maybe a minute to get clear before the station explodes and takes half this sector with it."

Knuckles blinked a few times, obviously shocked to find out that he really shouldn't have busted all the turbines. Still, in a panic the group began to run away from the facility, not even bothering to check for Security Eyes or SwatBots as they ran away from the station. As Sally promised, just as the trio began to get clear of the blast radius a resound boom filled the air. The sudden rush of air threw the three freedom fighters up into the air and into a nearby building while a pillar of fire arched up into the sky."

"ALERT, ALERT, Power Station 7 has just exploded."

"WHAT!?" Dr. Robotnik shouted, sitting up in his bed. The floating monitor quickly came over to his bed, showing the sight of the damage.

"Scan the area, see if there are any life forms nearby."

"Bringing satellites around, scanning area… three entities detected one block away from boarder or sector."

"Get that fire under control and send out robots to catch them. And prep my hover platform and make sure the prototype is waiting for me at the launch bay."

"Yes Dr. Robotnik."

"I may not get the hedgehog," Dr. Robotnik cursed, getting out of bed and moving to his bathroom to quickly get changed. "But at least I can test my new weapon on some other unsuspecting rodents."

And, within five minutes Dr. Robotnik was standing on his hover platform, the transport quickly flying across the city towards the fire burning in the night. Along side him were several battle cruisers piloted by SwatBots, and the good doctor himself was carrying the green, rifle like weapon in one hand, his finger gently tightening and loosing on the trigger.

Sally groaned, holding her head as she slowly got up off the ground. Her vision was blurred, but after blinking her eyes a few times she was able to focus and look around. They had just barely been able to escape the worst of the blast, being thrown against a building only by the force of the shockwave put off by the explosion. She looked around, seeing Knuckles lying sprawled out on his back and tails leaned against the building, both just starting to come around.

"Are you two okay?"

Knuckles shook his head, standing up, "I'm fine."

"I am too." Tails replied, though he teetered a little when he first stood up. Still, their current state was the least of the groups concern as they heard the distinct sound of metal boots falling on the metallic streets of Robotropolis. Without a word between them the trio began racing towards the edge of the city, Knuckles and Sally running while Tail followed by flying just a few feet above the ground.

Without warning, a laser shot zipped by Tails, making the young fox shout. Knuckles glanced back, seeing a troop of SwatBots chasing them through the alleys. Before Sally could protest the echidna skidded to a stop. In a display of his astounding strength, Knuckles picked up a nearby hunk of scrap metal and hurled it at the SwatBots. The large hunk of old robotics crashed into the first SwatBot, not only blocking the alley but destroying a few of the bolt heads in the process.

"Come on, we have to get back to the sand buggy." Sally shouted, drawing Knuckles back into the process of running for their lives. Following their movement from above using his satellites, Dr. Robotnik could only smile. He gently pressed a button on his hover platform, a pole raising up near the front. He careful set his new weapon down on the pole, the technology locking together to give Dr. Robotnik a controllable pivot.

"Core, keep close to them but draw back all other forces. I believe its time I send back one of those annoying rodents with a little present."

"Of course doctor. All security patrols stand down, make sure intruders have a clear path to the city boarder."

As this was happening, Dr. Robotnik gently adjust the rifle stand, bringing up to a comfortable height before setting the butt of the gun against his shoulder, wrapping his right hand around the trigger while his left hand steadied the gun.

"Core, what the range on the prototype?"

"Weapon is a modified series XL89 Rifle. Fires small spherical bursts of electricity. Along with Project Z8H6M rifle implements our experimental target guiding system. The shot will be prepped with the mutagenic compound as it leaves the barrel. The guns magnetic guidance system will allow you to modify the path of the electro-shot in flight. As long as you keep your laser marker trained on target, weapon has 100 accuracy up to 1,000 yards when the electro-shot looses stability and implodes."

"Perfect," Dr. Robonik replied, bending his head close as he turned on the laser guide near the end of the barrel. The small red dot floated around the environment, following where the gun barrel was pointed. Finally, after a few moments he saw the intruders run out into the wastelands, running towards a concealed sand buggy.

"Oh, this is just delicious." Dr. Robotnik whispered, his eyes moving amongst the targets. "I feel like a kid in a candy store. I just don't which one to choose."

"Doctor, targets are at 800 yards. They will soon be out of range."

"You must learn patience Core. Wait for the right opportunity then… take it." As Dr. Robotnik said the last two words he squeezed the trigger. The rifle fired off its strange ammo, a mixture of the energy shot contained in a small tough, green bubble of gel. The shot cut through the air before hitting its target square in the back.

Sally yelped as she felt a surge of energy hit her back, and she tumbled down to the sand. Knuckles quickly doubled back, grabbing up Sally while Tails got the sand buggy ready. Soon, the trio was racing across the sands, the wind pulling at the sail and drawing them quickly out of Dr. Robotnik's range. Still, even as they escaped the doctor was smiling, resting a hand on his new weapon.

"Core, start a countdown clock and set it for 10 days and twelve hours, and prepare a computer simulation. Even if I can't see what happens to the princess, I want to at least be able to imagine it."

"Clock is set, and the countdown has begun. Shall I set the hover platform on a return route back to the fortress?"

"That would be lovely." The doctor replied, turning as he took a seat in his thrown again, his face still turned up in a devilish smile that would send a shiver up any sane person's spine.

Though there wasn't any visible sign of a wound, Sally was still unconscious form the surge of energy that ripped through her body. The village doctor, a painted horse man that, from his ancestral routes, new several medical herbs, examined Sally when Knuckles and Tails got her back. After a while he smiled, looking back at the pair who was waiting anxiously. "She'll be fine. The only thing that seems to be out of place is her heart beat, which is a little faster then it should be. Still, I imagine that's just some residual adrenaline in her system. Just let her rest, and I bet she'll be up and about tomorrow morning, as good as new."

Tails breathed a sigh of relief, a smile spreading on his face, "Thanks Dr. Cinnamon."

"No problem Tails. Now, you and Knuckles should go off and get some sleep. I'll keep an eye on Sally for a while, make sure her condition is stable then I'll come back tomorrow afternoon to give her a check up."

The two nodded, Tails trying to suppress a yawn before they turned and left the room. Dr. Cinnamon watched them leave, then smiled and adjusted his glasses before looking back at Sally. Being very careful and gentle, he pulled the blanket out from her and then spread it across her frame. A small smile crept on the princess's face, the warmth and comfort of her blanket easing her sleep.

In the hallway, Tails said a good night to Knuckles as the pair parted ways, Knuckles heading for the door while Tails went down the halls to his own bedroom. Covering his mouth for a second yawn Tails didn't noticing anything out of place until his foot contacted with something. Without really meaning to, he kicked the item and it clattered down the hallway.

"Oh no," Tails said to himself, running to pick up the item. It was Nicole, Sally's palm sized computer. It must have fallen off while they were carrying her inside. Tail began to feel bad, hoping he didn't break the very reliable and essential piece of technology. Glancing around for a time Tails quickly ran to his bedroom and shut the door. He turned on the light, moving over to his desk. He had to brush aside some old doodles and schematics he had been working on, opening up Nicole's screen before taking a seat.

"Nicole, run a system diagnostic."

"Yes, Tails…" The female computer voice chimed back, "All circuitry and software clears system check."

Tails breathed a sigh of relief, setting Nicole down on his desk and leaning back in the chair. Sally would have been mad if he had broken Nicole. She was their one link into Robotnik's network. At several access stations across Robotropolis they had attached bypass circuits. By bouncing signals off of the doctor's own satellites they were able to hack his network at a distance. They never really could do a lot with the connection, since too much activity would allow Robotnik to either discover the bypass circuits or the satellite uplink. Still, low level snooping could easily slip under the radar.

As Tails thought about the network he began to think about something else. He had been talking to someone, just before the security system realized he had shut down systems in the area. Tails curiosity began to grow, wondering if there was someone in Robotropolis, a person or even several people that needed to be rescued or maybe could even fight Robotnik.

After batting the idea around in his head for a while, Tails's curiosity got the better of him. He leaned forward, scotching his chair closer to table and opening one of his desk drawers. He pulled out an old, makeshift keyboard and set it on the desk, hooking it into Nicole before giving his verbal command.

"Nicole, please enter command prompt mode."

"Enter command prompt." At that a hologram screen appeared in the air above the palm sized computer, allowing Tails to type on his keyboard and work at it like any workstation in Robotropolis. Nicole threw a few arguments when he tried to access Dr. Robotnik's network without Sally's permission, but being a bit of a computer wiz Tails bypassed Nicole's complaints and was soon sifting through Dr. Robotnik's servers.

It took a while, but after snooping around a little he was able to find his way back, and eventually relocate that strange item in the servers that was only identified as 0000000000000001.

"Hello…" Tails typed into the command prompt, wondering if he would get a response.

"Who is there?" The line read back.

"It's me, Tails."

"What happened? You just left."

"Sorry, I couldn't stay, but we can talk now."

"Okay"

"So, what's your name?"

"What is a name?" Whoever was on the other side of the screen replied.

"It's what people call you?"

"My identity code is 000000000000001."

"How about I just call you Uno?" Tails replied, remembering someone in the village telling him it was the word for one in another language.

"Okay."

"Are you a Freedom Fighter, Uno?"

"No"

"Are you Dr. Robotnik's prisoner?"

"No"

"Are you one of Dr Robotnik's robots?"

"No"

Tails tilted his head, trying to think. If he wasn't a freedom fighter, or a prisoner, or one of Dr. Robotnik's robots, then who or what could this strange person be. It was puzzling, and with curiosity increased Tails tried to delve deeper into Uno's identity.

"Do you work for Robotnik?"

"Everyone in Robotropolis does"

Tails nodded his head, it was true. Whether they worked willingly or not, that was the main defining deference between his Mobian slaves and the robots he constructed."

"How about this? Do you have to work for Dr. Robotnik?"

"Yes"

"Do enjoy working for Dr. Robotnik, or do you hate it?"

"I wish only to have a choice."

Tails blinked a few times, the last line confusing him. It was weird to think about it, but he couldn't get over the feeling that he was talking to a machine. Still, none of Dr. Robotnik's bolt brains were smart enough to keep up a conversation. They just followed orders. Was this some new AI system Dr. Robotnik was developing, or was it some other computer like Nicole that got wired into the system.

"Uno, were you built by someone?"

"I don't know."

This was getting frustrating, but even as Tails wanted to do press this mysterious Uno for more information he heard footsteps in the hall. It had to be Dr. Cinnamon. Tails, realizing that he should have already been asleep, typed a hasty goodbye and then shut off Nicole before shutting of the light and jumping into bed. Dr. Cinnamon opened the door for only a moment, checking in on Tails before shutting it again and continuing his way down the hall.

Tails debated getting back out of bed and resuming his conversation with Uno, but decided against it. He was tired, and if Uno was one of Robotnik's machines he wouldn't be going anywhere. It might be hard to get a hold of Nicole again, but Tails decided it would be for the best if he waited.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Sally shifted in her bead, yawning as she turned over. Her memories of the previous night were jumbled, but as she lay in bed her mine began to piece together the series of events. She cursed a bit, making a mental note to tell Knuckles off later for damaging all the turbines before turning over and trying to fall back to sleep. Still, even as Sally began to doze off the door to her room opened.

Tails smiled brightly, holding a tray with what looked like a rather sloppily made breakfast. "Aunt Sally, I made you breakfast."

"Go away Tails," Sally snapped, turning over and covering her head. Still, the princess quickly felt guilt and looked back to see Tails standing in the door, his feelings obviously hurt. Sally sighed, quickly sitting up and mentally kicking herself before smiling. "Sorry Tails, I'm just a little tired."

"So, do you want your breakfast?"

Sally craned her neck a little, seeing the rather sloppy breakfast. It was obvious tails had tried to make her some fried eggs, but the yolks were broken and the eggs themselves were badly misshapen. It also looked like Tails had stumbled, because the water glass was only half full and the tray itself had a low level of water all across it.

Still, feeling like she had to make amends to Tails for snapping Sally had him set it down on her night stand, promising to eat it after she had gotten a little more sleep. Sally then rolled over again, and while she wasn't looking Tails quickly set Nicole on her nightstand, knowing Sally would miss the palm sized computer if it wasn't there when she decided to get out of bed.

And that event came almost an hour later, when Sally was finally able to maker herself wake up. She wasn't tired anymore, but she still couldn't deny that she felt a little weird. Still, after putting on her boots and a clean vest, replacing Nicole on her boot and eating the breakfast Tails made (which while was still pretty good though it didn't look all that appetizing). With that done Sally strode out into the hall, hoping to hear news about there efforts in Robotropolis and how things were going in New Haven.

Antoine was in the command center when Sally came up the stairs. It was obvious he really wasn't doing any work, just staring out over the village. Still, when he heard Sally the French coyote quickly spun around, smiling as he spoke in his heavy accent.

"Ah, and my sleeping beauty does awaken. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine Antoine," Sally replied, looking over the command center map. "Did we get any news from Robotropolis or New Haven?"

"Ah, yes, we got this news just a few minutes ago. Rotor fixed ze shield generator before Dr. Robotnik's army arrived, but they discovered that ze stealth bots were finding their way in through and underwater cave that connected to ze city's sewer system. Sonic fought of ze robots until Bunnie was able to seal the entrance. As of this morning, New Haven is safe and sound."

"Good, are they on their way back?"

"Sonic needs to rest, but they'll leave by noon and be back just around sunset."

"What about the attack on Robotropolis?"

"Our lookouts say they saw the Power Station explode and it took out three nearby factories and several damaged a neighboring air hanger. You did a marvelous job, my princess."

Like a snapped twig Sally seemed to lung out suddenly, grabbing Antoine by the scruff of his shirt, glaring coldly at him as her voice was low and heavy with anger. "I thought I told you to quit calling me that."

"Pa..Pa…Pardon mua, I… I didn't… I won't…"

Sally growled, giving Antoine a little shove before turning back to the map. Antoine, who managed to keep himself from crashing to the floor, just looked at Sally with a bit of fear in his eyes. She had never seen her get so angry so quickly, especially to a friend. On top of that, Sally seemed to be emanating a rather bad vibe into the air, making Antoine decide to just quietly slip out of the command center rather then try to continue the conversation.

After using Nicole to check the status of Dr. Robotnik's power grid and seeing that, again, he had drawn power from Sector 79, it seemed like things were falling perfectly into place. Still, even though she knew she should have been happy, something in the back of Sally's mind kept her from being it. She felt tired, but not physically. It was just like she didn't want to deal with the day. Still, being the leader of a village and rebellion didn't allow for days off.

Trying to get work done, Sally found herself getting aggravated with herself as she had troubling thinking of a good plan. Deciding to get some air, Sally placed Nicole back on her boot and went out into the village, walking along the paths. As she walked she a few other people, and while on most days she would smile and greet everyone with a wave today she just didn't feel like it.

After turning a corner Sally happened to catch sight of Knuckles, who was practicing his fighting style in an open patch of grass beside the river. Deciding she might feel better after telling Knuckles off, Sally strode over beside the echidna who quickly stopped his workout upon seeing Sally.

"Hey Sally"

The squirrel princess however, didn't reply as she crossed her arms and gently tapped one of her boots. The look on her face told Knuckles everything and he smiled weakly while using one hand to rub the back of his head. "Ya, sorry about last night. I didn't see any harm in busting up the rest of the turbines."

"Just remember Knuckles that I do everything for a reason, and if I had wanted you to damage all the turbines I would have told you."

Knuckles quickly shifted into a more serious tone, getting defensive. "Hey, I said I was sorry. Besides, you didn't tell me what would happen."

"I shouldn't need to Knuckles. You're a grown up, you should be able to follow orders. Or maybe Tails should be teaching you how to behave like a big boy."

"Are you calling me stupid?" Knuckles partly growled.

"If the shoe fits," Sally spat back, the pair glaring at each other. Still, after teetering on the verge of an all out fight Sally caught herself, shaking her head and moaning. Knuckles own anger cooled seeing Sally in what looked like pain, and he quickly asked, "Hey, are you all right?"

"Ya, I'm fine. I guess last night took more out of me then I thought. I'm sorry I yelled."

"No, its all right, you had every right to. Still, why don't you head back to the headquarters and get back in bed? We can't really start any new missions until Sonic and the others get back, and after all the late nights you've been pulling I doubt anyone would mind if you caught up on your sleep."

"I think I'll have to take you up on that offer Knuckles." Sally replied, turning as she began making her way back to the headquarters. Still, even as Sally was walking she happened to pass Dr. Cinnamon's home, and the doctor quickly came out, catching Sally in the street.

"How are you feeling Sally?" He asked, walking alongside the squirrel princess.

"Fine, a little tired."

Dr. Cinnamon lifted his hand to the back of Sally's head, holding it there for a moment. "Well, you do seem to be running a little warm. Maybe that shot from Dr. Robotnik did more then I originally thought."

"What do you mean?"

"When Tails and Knuckles brought you back to the village last night they said you had been shot in the back. They had me examine you. Everything seemed all right, and there was only a small bit of bruising where something hit you. Still, have you been noticing anything out of the ordinary today?"

"No"

"Any strange aches, pains, or stiffness"

"No"

"What about dizziness, fatigue, nausea."

"I told you I'm fine." Sally snapped, causing Dr. Cinnamon to stop in his tracks. Sally, however, didn't even notice as she began stepping more quickly, getting back to the headquarters. With only saying a half hearted passing hello to Tails, who was working on something in the workshop, Sally went to her bedroom, locked the door, closed the blinds, and plopped down in the bed without even bothering to take off her boots.

Back in Robotropolis, Dr. Robotnik was sitting at his desk. He had just had a bit of a long series of headaches, recalling his army at the failed attack on New Haven and now losing a second power station in two weeks. Still, as he began to sink into his disappointment Core's monitor came floating above the table where Dr. Robotnik was eating his usually, hearty meal.

"What is it Core? You know I don't like to be disturbed when I eat."

"Doctor, I am here to merely notify you that Sally Acorn is entering her twelfth hour of being infected."

"Lovely. So, what should our dear princess be experiencing at the moment?"

"High levels of irritability, a short temper, and minor exhaustion as her body attempts to fight off our pathogen."

"Oh, if I could only sit back and watch. Tell me, Core, when will she be through the mutation stage."

"Do to its shortness, since her timed infection was at 10:12:37 last night, she will be just starting into Stage 3 by tomorrow morning."

"I do wonder what all her little friends will think when they see what has become of their glorious leader." Dr. Robotnik snickered, his imaging shifting into high gear. "They may even think it's not her, believing I had done something to the real Sally. Oh, this little thing is so devilish; I wonder if I should use it on the hedgehog. Turn him from a goody two shoes into something much more sinister. It might even warm this cold metallic heart of mine."

"Speaking of Sonic, satellites have detected him returning to the forest. Do you wish to try and intercept him?"

"No, by tomorrow he'll be too busy dealing with his own little emergency to worry about me, and it will finally give me a chance to get some serious repairs underway."

At that Dr. Robotnik took a large, artificially grown chicken leg, sinking his teeth into it and ripping away a large hunk, chewing on it as a smile played at his face. He couldn't even see what was happening, and it just knowing what was transpiring was enough to him grin.

Sally was surprised when she woke up several hours later, the sun mostly set. She quickly got out of bed, but then groaned a little as she held her head. After recovering from her short dizziness she began heading for the door, doing her best to flatten her fur as she made her way to the command center.

Several people were already up in the command center when Sally arrived. Sonic was telling Tails the story of the battle, being dramatic as the youthful fox sat and watched wide eyed. Bunnie was talking with Knuckles, the two comparing the acts of strength they had performed on their missions. That left Rotor to sit quietly by himself, obviously ready to sleep in his own bed.

"And then, I pulled out a power ring, leapt up, and plowed through a whole line of those bolt heads, knocking over like dominos."

"Whoa…" Tails said, smiling. "That is so cool Sonic."

"Ya, I know." The blue hedgehog replied before glancing over his shoulder and seeing Sally coming in. "And look who decided to join us. Hey sleepy head."

"Don't start with me Sonic." Sally replied, her mood not any better then it had been when she went to sleep. "All right everyone, since New Haven is safe and Dr. Robotnik has taken more power away from Sector 79 to cover the rest of the city I think we're finally ready to make a raid on the warehouse."

"About time. I like blowing up power stations, but it just isn't the same as stealing something right out from under Robutnik's nose."

"Sonic, would you be a dear and SHUT YOUR TRAP FOR FIVE SECONDS!"

Everyone looked at Sally fairly wide eyed. Still, the squirrel took no notice as she quickly laid out the plan for attacking the warehouse. They would wait until tomorrow night, giving everyone time to rest. Still, Sally didn't let anyone speak during the entire meeting and when it was done she quickly excused herself, deciding to go back and get some more sleep.

The command center was deathly silent after Sally left, everyone looking at each other rather surprised. "What's gotten into old sal gal?" Bunnie asked, this being the first time she had seen Sally all day.

"I don't know," Knuckles replied, "She was in the same bad mood when I saw her earlier."

"She even yelled at me when I brought her breakfast in bed." Tails said, mentioning his own experience with the short tempered Sally.

"Did anything happen to Sal while we were gone?" Sonic asked.

"Robotnik hit her with something, but we think it was just an electric shock. It didn't even leave a mark on her fur, and Dr. Cinnamon gave her a clean bill of health last night."

"Maybe Sal's just having one of those days. Heaven knows this gal can act quiet unlady like with no cause in sight."

"Like the time you were shouting at the birds for singing to much." Knuckles said, chuckling a little as he remembered that particular day.

"Now them birds had been chirping all morning and I was just not in the mood to hear no more singing. Still, let Sal get a good night sleep and I bet she'll be back to her old self tomorrow morning."

"I hope so." Tails said, voicing what was crossing everyone's mind, since short tempered Sally wasn't a very pleasant person to be around.

Hoping that maybe a second attempt at the breakfast in bed would work better then the first, Tails had made a much simpler and nicer looking meal and was carrying it down the hall to Sally's room the next morning. It was a few slices of toast, made by putting bread on a frying pan over a fire. It was simple, but Tails hoped Sally would like it.

Knowing that he still needed to be careful, Tails gently knocked on the door. A gentle, and sweet sounding come in rang out from behind the door and Tails smiled, pushing open the door. "Sally, I thought I'd make you breakfast again."

"Oh Tails, you didn't have to do that." Sally replied, shifting underneath the covers of her bed.

"So, how are you feeling?" Tails asked, not noticing that the lump under the blanket was a bit larger then it should have been.

"Much better" Sally said, enjoying the warm of the bed for a few more moments. "I don't know why I was in such a foul mood yesterday."

"Well, as long as you're not yelling at everyone. Now, why don't you eat your breakfast before it gets cold?"

Sally shifted, finally sitting up in her bed and turning to look at Tails. The two tailed fox looked back, and the tray of food slipped from his fingers and clattered to the floor. Sally turned her head, seeing a very strange mixture of surprise and terror in Tails eyes. "What's wrong?"

The young fox however didn't say a word, just continuing to stare at Sally as he took an anxious step back, quivering. Sally, instinctively, reached out to comfort Tails but her action only made him shout and bolt out of the room, crying at the top of his lungs for Sonic.

The blue hedgehog appeared at the door in a flash, obviously expecting a fight. Still, when his eyes met with Sally's the pair just stared at each other for a time. Sally was dumbstruck, not knowing what was going on or why Tails had run away from her scream. She was so befuddled that she didn't notice she was looking down at Sonic, forced to tilt her head to meet his eyes.

"Sa…Sally, is that you?" Sonic asked, his own voice trembling weakly.

"What is it Sonic? What's wrong?" Was all Sally could ask, her heart beat starting to race. She could tell, just by the look in Sonic's eyes, something wasn't right. Without even thinking she quickly lifted up her hands, turning them over in front of her eyes.

They definitely looked different, the once small admittedly dainty hands having changed. Each finger seemed to have doubled in length but remain the same width, making each one appear bony. To make things worse, the tip of each finger now sported a long, pitch black claws. Sally was at a loss for wards at that, but as she held the hands out farther away so she could get a better look she caught sight of something that made her stomach turn over and made her lungs feel like they were filled with rocks.

Supported in the air, running right along side her normal two arms were a second pair of limbs. Almost completely identical to the first pair, Sally actually began to wonder if she was seeing double. Still, subtle difference and delays in the movements of the second pair of arms quickly killed this one, hopeful thought.

"Sonic, go get a mirror." Sally said, her mouth dry from shock and fear but her voice still strong and commanding.

"No Sal, I don't know if that's a good idea."

"Sonic, please." Sally echoed, her voice starting to carry the hint of desperation. She needed to know, even if she feared what would be staring back at her in the reflective surface. After taking a breath Sonic nodded his head, zipping out of the room. He had to look around the village for a while, but he eventually found a large mirror and brought it back to the room.

He came in the room backwards, so that the mirror was turned away. Sally was still sitting on her bed, looking over her two pairs of arms and also taking in the changes that had befallen her legs. "Now, Sally, are you sure you want to…"

"Sonic, turn the mirror around."

The blue hedgehog nodded, adjusting himself so that he set the mirror down facing Sally. He then took a few tentative steps back, waiting as Sally got the first proper look at herself. After a few moments of silence an ear splitting scream erupted from Sally's throat, one that could be heard halfway across the village. It was both a scream, but at the same time he had almost a roar like quality to it, a vocal sign of the changes that had befallen her.

Dr. Cinnamon held his chin, looking at Sally with a very puzzled expression. Sonic had called him to the headquarters, leading him to Sally's room. The door had been locked, but after knocking a few times and encouragement Sonic was able to get Sally to unlock the door and let Dr. Cinnamon in. To say the least he was as shocked as Sonic was upon seeing what had befallen Sally. Still, he quickly regained his professional composure, comforting Sally as best he could before starting to examine her.

Still, it was quickly obvious that he had never dealt with anything remotely similar to what had happened to Sally. It was a biological impossibility, until Dr. Cinnamon remembered that the night before Robotnik had shot Sally with some strange new weapon. Though this thought wasn't comforting, it gave Dr. Cinnamon a place to begin his research. After searching Sally's back for at time he found a small, green bit of hardened gel. He quickly used a pair of tweezers to remove the sample from her fur, placing it in a glass container. He then began to go about a normal medical examination, trying to determine Sally's health in her new form.

As Dr. Cinnamon worked Sally couldn't keep herself from looking back at the mirror, which had been pushed into the corner of the room. She now understood why Tails had run away from her in fear, and why Sonic had been so hesitant to let her see her reflection. Through the course of the night she had mutated, transformed… what ever you wanted to call it. She had changed, and it wasn't for the better.

Besides the fact that she had four arms, the arms themselves were thin and menacing. The muscles had been compressed down, making the arms appear like they were little more then skin and bones when, in truth, Sally never felt stronger. At her elbow the joint had also mutated, a long bone spike growing out of her elbow and extending about half a foot.

From her arms it was natural for a person's attention to be drawn to her legs. In almost defiance of her thin, menacing arms her legs had thickened, becoming more muscular looking and powerful. In all honestly, it looked like she could easily crush anything beneath her feet.

The new design of her limbs was compounded by the fact that they had all grown significantly in length. The rest of her body had also grown, her torso having doubled in size and her head growing a little to match it. Still, her limbs grew more, making her arms and legs look even more menacing since they dominated that much more of her body.

The final touches to the new, monstrous form could be seen in Sally's head and tail. Her tails had grown much longer, the fur on it looking rough and feral while a sharp, doubled edged spike grew from the tip. It was like someone had glued a dagger to her tail, but it was far sharper and certainly a part of her body considering it was made of bone.

While her head had managed to stay mostly unchanged, her teeth seemed to have grown sharper, looking like they belonged in the mouth of a carnivorous animal instead of a Mobian omnivore. The last thing grew from Sally's forehead, a pair of things that seemed to be a mixture between antenna's and a common tail. The two strange appendages sprouted about an inch above the tips of Sally's eyebrows near her nose.

The things had the appearance that they were antennas, but they were much more tail like in structure since they were covered in fur, skin, muscles, and had bones at the core. The two antenna/tail things followed the curve of her head back, barely intermingling with her hair as they slopped back. As they passed between her ears the appendages straightened out, flowing out behind Sally's head about half a foot before ending in two, blunt points.

At that point Sally couldn't stand looking at herself, and turned her attention back to Dr. Cinnamon. He had once easily been the tallest Mobian in the village, but now Sally wondered if she was standing up straight if he would even reach her waist. That was another thing that seemed different about her legs. By looking at them, Sally wondered if they had changed into a dog like build, where she would walk only on her toes with her ankle raised off the ground. Still, she couldn't be sure until she actually tried to walk.

After mumbling to himself for half and hour and making notes, Dr. Cinnamon rubbed the bridge of his nose and looked up at Sally, having to shift his head fairly far back to even look into her face. "I'm sorry Sally, but I have never seen anything like this before. There is no illness that can cause such dramatic changes to the body, at least nothing natural."

This was definitely not what Sally wanted to hear, but she nodded her head all the same. "Is there anything you can do?"

"I'm going to examine this substance I found on your back, see if I can identify it as the source of your mutation. Otherwise, I wouldn't feel comfortable giving you any herbs or spices in fear they might cause some other mutation. So, for the time being, I can only ask you to wait until I know more."

"All right," Sally replied, her voice low. She knew Dr. Cinnamon would try his hardest, and that if he thought anything could help he would have tried it. Still, the simple but subtle declaration that he didn't know had happened to her or what to do did not give Sally's confidence. To make matters worse, Sally felt terrible most of the morning as she remember Tails. He had been so terrified when he saw her, and Sally could only pray that he would never have to look at her that way ever again.

As Sally was getting examined by Dr. Cinnamon all the others were up on the command deck. After talking about everything that happened the past few days, the quickly realized that whatever Dr. Robotnik had hit Sally with had to be the cause of her new, strange appearance. Still, knowing the source only made things worse in their minds, because if Dr. Robotnik was truly the cause then things could get much, much worse.

"We need to figure out what he's done." Knuckles said, tired of the conversation going around in circles. "Now how can we do that?"

"We've told you Knuckles, we'd need to hack into Robotnik's system and we can only do that form inside the city. Even then, we don't even know where to look. His network is huge it could take us days to find anything." Rotor explained, re-enforcing his own opinion that they needed to make a series of missions into the city.

"But we can't risk spending so much time in Robotropolis, or trying to get such sensitive information out of Dr. Robotnik's servers. It's way to risky." And thus the argument circled around again as Sonic, Bunnie, Rotor, Antoine, and Knuckles each tried to champion their own plans. During all this, Tails was standing back, silent as he thought about what Sally had looked like that morning. He felt horrible running away from Sally like that, but he hadn't been able to stop himself. In all honesty, he didn't even think it was Sally at first but after listening in as Sonic talked to her, he realized that the scary thing he had seen get out of Sally's bed had really been the squirrel princess.

Since the argument in the command center was going in circles and nobody was bothering to ask for his opinion, Tails decided that he would go down and apologize to Sally for running away like that. It would be hard, considering that she still looked kind of scary. Still, as he approached the door Tails began to harden his conviction. Sally would never hurt him intentionally, so he had nothing to be afraid off.

But even bringing himself to knock on the door was starting to eat away at Tails courage. He stood there in front of the door for a time, his memory of seeing Sally reach for him getting twisted by his imagination. He shook his head a few times to clear the images away, and before they could return he knocked on the door.

"Who's there?" Sally's voice echoed out from behind the door, still carrying its same soft and welcoming tone.

"It's me Aunt Sally. Can… can I come in?"

"If you really want to" She replied, the lock on the door gently clicking open. Tails felt his mouth go dry, and he had to swallow a lump in his throat, but he pushed the door open all the same, his vision quickly focusing in on the new, scary looking Sally who was still sitting on the edge of her bed from when Dr. Cinnamon had been examining her.

"Tails, I'm sorry I scared you earlier. I didn't mean to." Sally quickly said, wanting to get the apology out incase Tails couldn't stand the sight of her and quickly left the room again.

"Are… are you feeling all right?" Tails asked, managing to force himself to take a few more steps into the room.

"Good" Was all Sally said in reply, trying to keep herself perfectly still in fear what would happen if she tried to move or reach out for him. "Though, I probably look pretty bad, kind of scary."

"Ya… you are… kind of scary." Tails echoed, finding no point in lying.

At that the pair fell silent, but even in the silence Tails continued to inch closer to Sally. Eventually, he got within an arms length of Sally, and he tentatively reached out and touched her leg. Sally only smiled, shifting just a little as she lowered her head closer to Tails.

"It's all right Tails. I know I look scary, but you don't have to be afraid. It's still me."

Tails looked up at Sally for a time, and then slowly he began to spin his tails. After lifting himself of the ground he got high enough he was able to wrap his arms around Sally's neck, burying his head in the fur on her chest. "I'm sorry I ran away this morning."

Sally brought her form arms around, doing her best to return Tail's hugs. "It's all right Tails. It's all right."

To anyone that walked in, it would have been a strange sight to seeing the monstrous looking Sally hugging the two tailed fox that was barely even a third her size. Still, both of them were feeling a whole lot better, Tails happy he was able to apologize and Sally comforted by the fact that he was able to see she was still the same person, just trapped in a different body.

After hugging for a time longer Sally gently set Tails down on the edge of the bed, a smile on her face. "So, where are all the others?"

"They're up in the command center. They think that what ever Dr. Robotnik shot you with is what caused this, but when I left they were arguing. Knuckles wants to go and find out what we can from Dr. Robotnik's servers, and some others agree but Rotors saying that it would take to much time to find the files, even if we knew where they were."

"And did you have any ideas?"

Tails shifted, looking down at his shoes as he thought. His Tails twitched a little, but after a few minutes he smiled and looked up at Sally. "Do you remember when I was hacking the computer? I started to talk to someone or something in Dr. Robotnik's servers. I don't know if it's someone like a Mobian or a new AI Dr. Robotniks' developed, but it didn't seem like it was mean. It actually seemed fairly simple. Maybe we could try asking him."

"I don't know Tails. It could be something Dr. Robotnik planted on the system to track our location."

"It can't be."

"Why's that."

"Well… after you got shot we were carrying you back and Nicole must have fallen off your boots. I took her, and I was just going to run a system diagnostic to make sure she wasn't broken. But I then used her and one of our Bypass circuits to contact Uno."

"Tails…" Sally said, her voice giving of a tone of mother or aunt that knew a child had done something wrong.

"I know you don't like me messing with Nicole without your permission, but I really think he's a nice guy. It couldn't hurt to ask him if he knows what Robotnik did."

Sally sighed, "All right, go get your keyboard while establish an uplink."

Tails smiled and nodded, quickly jumping down from the bed and running to his bedroom. When he returned, Sally had moved her nightstand towards the center of the bed, making it more like a desk with Nicole sitting out on it, the small palm sized computer already projecting a hologram screen.

With little effort at all Tails hooked up his keyboard, found his way through Robotnik's system, and connected with Uno. Tails then modified the system so that he and Sally could just talk and Sally would convert the words into text and send them to Uno. He also set it so Uno's lines would be read back in a masculine computerized voice, that way they could have at least a semblance of a real conversation.

"Hello Tails. How are you today?"

"I'm fine Uno. How are you?"

"I am as I have always been."

"Listen, I've got someone here I want you to meet." Tails said, motioning towards Sally.

"Hello Uno," The mutated princess said, "I'm Sally Acorn."

"It is nice to meet you Sally."

"Listen, Uno, do you think you can help us with something?" Tails asked.

"That all depends on what that something is."

"Are you a part of Robotnik's network?"

"I am"

"Can you access system files?"

"I can view, but not modify."

Tails smiled, "Can you tell us anything about a new weapon Dr. Robotnik is using. It's green with red tubes, and he used it on Sally two days ago."

"I'm sorry Tails, but I am prohibited by system protocols to disclose any information without specific approval from Dr. Robotnik."

"Come on Uno," Sally asked, leaning forward a little, "Isn't there anything you can do?"

Uno didn't reply for a time, as if he was thinking about what he was doing. The delay alone made Tails wonder if he was really talking to a Roboticized Mobian, but at the same time it still didn't feel right since most of the people Dr. Robotnik turned into machines were mindless like the rest of his machines, their intelligence and souls locked away in the cold confines of their metal bodies.

Finally, Uno replied, the text appearing on screen as it was also rendered into audio using the masculine computer voice. "I cannot disclose specific information stored in the system, but I can disclose other information that is related to system operations or physical locations, but only if prompted."

Tails smiled, that meant they were getting somewhere. He quickly scooted closer to the edge of the bed, leaning in, "Uno, can you tell us where information on that weapon is stored in Robotnik's network."

"Data for the project in question is stored in Sector 19, Network System's Facility 23, Hard Drive Bank 12, Subsection Gamma, Storage Block H."

It was now Sally's turn to get excited, "Uno, can we access that set of files through this connection?"

"No, Network System Facilities operate on mostly closed networks. Any access to the rest of the city is heavily monitored. To get at the data without detection access must be establish within facility. Ideal access for none Robotropolis personnel would be to make a direct copy of Storage Block H to be examined outside of city."

"What are the physical attributes of a Storage Block?"

"That is data I cannot disclose."

Tails rubbed his chin, then snapped his fingers, "Uno, is a Storage Block bigger then a bread box?"

"No"

"What about a box of matches." Sally quickly added.

"Shorter height, greater width and length."

"What about a sandwich?" Tails asked, starting to get an imagined size of the Storage Block in his head.

"Would be smaller then a sandwich if that sandwich was comprised of two plain white slices of bread, two slices of meat, lettuce, and a generous layer of mayo."

"And Uno, can a Storage Block be access by a portable computer, like Nicole."

"Current connection computer has sufficient hardware capabilities."

"And are there blank Storage Blocks in the Network Facility?"

"A collection is kept for when Storage Blocks begin to show signs of failure. Each station is also built with an automatic copying system to allow for easy replacement."

Sally smiled, the gears of her mind starting to work. "Thanks Uno. That should be everything we need."

"Ya, Uno, you are awesome."

"You are both Welcome, Sally and Tails."

At that Tails broke the connection, unhooking his keyboard. He was smiling widely, having proven that the mysterious contact he had made in Robotropolis had been able to help them. Sally returned Tails smile, but hers was a bit smaller. While she was thankful to have the information, there was no way to verify that everything Uno said was accurate. She was also concerned, because even if everything was true why would part of Robotnik's system actually try and help them?

It was a little disturbing, Sally starting to wonder if Robotnik was trying to set them up with a trap. At the same time it didn't seem like something Dr. Robotnik would do. He was a brilliant man, but his trap laying ability wasn't as grand. Usually it was clear to see that they were walking into a trap, and this just didn't have that feel to it. Uno was too polite, and if it was a real trap he wouldn't be working so strictly inside Dr. Robotnik's rules. He was currently in a gray area, and Sally decided that the information was at least worth acting on.

Up in the command center, the discussion had been going in circles and everyone was getting fairly tired of trying to convince everyone else. The first to snap under his irritation was Antoine, who during a lapse in the conversation quickly spat out, "I do not know what ze huff is all about. So what if my princess has a few extra arms. It certainly doesn't sound like something we should be so worried about."

"Antoine, turn around."

Not only did the French coyote but everyone in the else quickly turned their heads to see Sally climbing up the stairs, the passage just large enough for her to clamor through. Tails was a few steps behind, but he quickly came to a stop as everyone in the room seemed fixated on Sally.

"Mon Deiu!"

"Whoa"

"Go ahead, get it out of yours systems." Sally said, having to bend over quiet a bit to fit under the command center's short roof.

"Sal gal, are you sure you should be out of bed. Maybe you should be resting." Bunnie said, taking a step towards Sally, an obvious level of concern in her eyes.

"Don't worry Bunnie. I may look different but I feel fine." At that Sally took a seat next to the map table, kneeling down since her legs did in fact bend and operate like a dog's hind legs. Still, even in after getting a comfortable seat on the floor Sally's head still towered over the others, and each of her arms was easy longer then anyone else was tall.

"Oh, ze doctor has gone too far this time." Antoine said, his anger flaring.

"Now calm down Antoine. We'll get Robotnik back for this, I guarantee that. Still, Tails told me what you guys are arguing about and showed me … lets call it a back door into Robotnik's network."

Tails piped up at this, smiling broadly at his accomplishment, "And we've found out where Dr. Robotnik has stored the files about the weapon he used on Sally."

"Where is it then?" Knuckles asked, obviously excited that his plan of just busting into Robotropolis and getting the information was becoming a lot more likely."

"Here," Sally said, pointing at the map with one of her long claws. "Sector 19, Network System's Facility 23. Inside it has large sections of Storage Blocks and on one of them contains data about the weapon. Specifically Storage Block H in Hard Drive Bank 12, Subsection Gamma."

"We don't have a lot of information about Sector 19. It doesn't hold any production facilities, just a lot of empty buildings and the Network Station. Otherwise, we don't know anything about that part of the city." Rotor added, looking over the map.

"But it's close to the western boarder," Knuckles pointed out, "If we stayed by these alleys, we could easily get into the sector without being seen by Dr. Robotnik. And the fact that the sector is mostly abandoned will mean security will be lower."

Sally nodded, "At most we could expect an occasional patrol of SwatBots and some Security Eyes, definitely no heavy troops. We may even be able to pull of a recovery mission without being detected, for once."

Sonic smiled, nodding his head, "Ya, I think I can already see something. Look, there is an access terminal nearby and, look here, a SwatBot assembly plant is in the sector to the East."

"What are you thinking Sonic?"

"If a few of use try taking out the assembly plant, we can probably distract Dr. Robotnik and all his security on trying to defend the plant. That would allow someone to get in to the Network Storage without any trouble at all."

"I'm impressed Sonic. That's actually a good plan."

"Smart, Fast, and way past cool. Yep, that's me."

"Don't flatter yourself Sonic." Sally countered, "We still have a lot of details to work out. Rotor, I want you to go through all of recon data and see what kind of information we have on Sectors 19 and all its neighbors. If we're going to mount an attack on the SwatBot assembly factor then I want everyone to go home and rest. Tails, I want you to help Rotor and once you guys find something come and get me."

"And what are you going to be doing through all of this hun?" Bunnie asked.

"I need to check into something. I'll be back in a few hours, but if any of you need me before then I'll be in the old training grounds to the south."

"Are you sure you want to go out looking like this, not that you aren't still beautiful." Antoine said, quickly covering the weak insult of his question with a compliment at the end.

"I'm not going to hide in the headquarters until I'm back to normal Antoine. Besides, you're coming with me."

"I am!" The French coyote replied, rather surprised. Still, after everyone went off to do their respective tasks, be it searching files or taking naps, Sally moved to the outer, exposed deck of the command center. Antoine stood beside her, already noticing several people in the streets looking up at them.

"Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, no one would blame you if you wanted to just stay in bed. I'll even rub your feet."

Sally just shook her head, reaching down with her lower right arm and grabbing Ant around the middle and lifting him up onto her back. "Sorry, but I'm not staying inside Antoine. Now, hold on."

"Wa, wa, wa… wait, I change my mind. I…I I I think I'd rather help Rotor search the files. So, how about you let me down and I'll go get Tails and he can go with you." Sally, however, didn't give Antoine a response as she quickly bent down and then jumped up. Because of the amazing increase in the strength and size of her legs, Sally was able to leap several stories in the air. Antoine howled in fear, his grip on Sally's neck quickly tightening while he hooked his legs in the space between the princess's two sets of shoulders. As gracefully as a butterfly Sally landed on a low hanging branch of trees that hid Knothole from the world, quickly springing off again as she made large leaps between the branches. It was strangely exhilarating, being able to move with such speed and grace. Sally could only wonder if this was how Sonic felt when he was running at top speed.

Antoine was more then grateful when Sally finally landed on the ground, quickly getting down off her back and kissing the grass, muttering things about how much he loved it. Sally let Antoine calm down a bit, taking a few steps towards the center of the glade. The Southern Training ground used to be a place where warriors from the old capitol city would come to train. It had only been used a few times since Robotnik attacked because only a few people were skilled enough to not hurt themselves training with the old equipment.

"Come on Antoine," Sally said, able to hear the French coyote still swooning over the fact he was back on the ground. "I need you to operate the training grounds for me."

"Are you sure you want to do this princess?" Antoine asked, pulling himself off the ground. "I know you've been her before, but I've never seen you actually train on this equipment. You've always operated it for someone else, like Sonic or Knuckles."

"I realize that Antoine, but I want to try something. So, if you would be so kind?"

"If it pleases my princess, I will gladly honor your request." At that Antoine turned, making to the far end of the glade and moving over to an old, vine covered piece of metal. The training ground, while looking to be completely in tune with nature, actually concealed a very dangerous set of training equipment. It was the reason the training grounds were originally hidden in the forest, to keep people from trying to use the equipment without proper permission and supervision.

"Are you ready?" Antoine shouted from the far end of the clearing, having finished removing the heavy vines that had grown over the aged control consol.

"Go ahead Ant." Sally called back.

"All right, I'll start you off with the pendulums. Here they come." At that Antoine pressed a few buttons on the consol. The training ground was solar powered, the panels hidden in the tops of the nearby trees. In such, though aged, the system quickly responded and a resounding click came from the tree tops above.

Sally knew exactly what was coming, turning around to see a large, rusted metal hammer come falling out of the treetops. The hammer was connected to a pendulum arm, and as Sally stepped out of the way the hammer whooshed by and disappeared back into the tree tops.

The first one was soon followed by two others, which Sally dodged again. There were a total of five pendulum arms, each attached on the same swinging access and each carry a large metal hammer at the end. The goal of the exercise was to simply avoid getting hit, the simple built in computer randomizing when hammers were released but always ensuring that there was a chance to avoid all the hammers.

Antoine started the simulator off slow, only one or two hammers appearing at once. Still, at Sally's request he took the difficult knob on the consol and began to turn it up. After a few minutes, Antoine could only stare and watch as Sally went against the hammer pendulums at the computers maximum difficulty level.

While Antoine was astonished, Sally could only smile gently. When she had been walking up to the command center with Tails things seemed a lot clearer then they usually were. Somehow, she knew exactly how the furniture was laid out in every room along side the hall and, on top of that, if there was someone inside or if they were empty. She didn't know if was an increased sense of smell, hearing, or maybe even her strange tail like antennas, but her senses had been greatly sharpened.

No mater what the cause was, even as the Hammers came careening at her she knew where each one was, and in such knew which was to dodge to ensure she didn't jump into the path of another swinging hammer. At one point Sally even decided to show off, moving in such a way she was able to grab onto one of the hammers as it swung and ride it for a while, jumping and moving between the hammers so she was never riding one when it reached the top of its mark.

Finally, the training exercise timed out and the basic computer system operating the training grounds retracted the hammers back into the tree canopy, locking them in place. Sally smiled, shifting and stretching a little.

"That was astounding!" Antoine shouted from the control consol.

"And I haven't even broken a sweat. Go ahead and give me the strength simulation."

Antoine nodded, and pressed a few buttons on the keyboard. Rising up from ground, a pair of metal cylinders came into view. Between them a old cushioned bench also came out of a hole in the ground. Sally strolled over to the bench, but finding herself to big to lay down on the bench she had Antoine make the two metal cylinders higher.

When they were taller then she was, a metal bar formed between the two cylinders. Sally got right up beside the two short metal towers, watching as the bar slowly sank down to the ground. "All right Sally. I've got you started at a low training weight. Tell me when to increase it."

Still, before Antoine was even able to finish his sentence Sally grabbed the bar with one hand, pulling up with it. Even though her arms were thinner and gangly looking, they were amazingly strong. Sally could only guess that her muscles had grown strong, but had also compressed down to a highly dense and efficient system. That fact was only proved by the show of her strength, lifting up the bar with a single arm.

"Of… um, of course, let me just start you off with a little more weight then."

Sally smiled, and continued to lift up on the bar as Antoine kept increasing the artificial weight. Finally, after increase the weight numerous times over Sally wasn't able to get the bar to lift, and she called it quits. Still, it was impressive run, getting within a hundred and fifty pounds of Knuckles' personal record.

Thus, for the next hour Sally went through most of the things the training grounds had to offer. It was strange. In the past she would have never dreamed of attempting some of dangerous things she was now performing almost effortlessly. While she didn't like the way she looked, Sally couldn't deny that this new, strange body of hers did have its up sides.

The final test was one Antoine and Sally had to go to the boarder of the forest to perform. With stop watch in hand, Antoine stood beside Sally. The rim of ground on the very edge of the forest was fairly flat, level, and firm, a thin strip of solid ground between the root covered forest floor and the sifting sands of the wastelands. Antoine reset the stopwatch he had taken from the training ground, holding his hand over the start button.

"On your marks, get ze set, and… GO!"

Sally's sprung forward, all four of her arms swimming as she began to sprint. The goal was simple, to get around the forest as fast as possible. Sonic of course held the record, but Sally was interested to see how close she could get to the blue blurs time. After a taking a little time to get up to speed Sally even began mimicking Sonic, letting her arms hang back. Her strides weren't quiet as fast as Sonic, but her leg length alone allowed her to keep up a fairly fast space.

Not much later she zipped by Antoine, the French coyote hitting stop on the timer and watching as Sally slowed to a stop and then quickly came back, closing the distance between them with a single great leap.

"So, how did I do?"

Antoine had been a little jarred by the tremor of Sally, but after regaining his composure he looked at the stop watch. "About thirty seconds slower then Sonic's record. Still a very impressive time my princess. You even beat the sand buggies time."

"Good, that means I can go on the mission tonight and I won't slow everyone down."

"Excusez-moi, you must be joking. You are in no condition to go on a mission."

Sally shook her head, "On the contrary Antoine. I believe I'm more capable then I've ever been for a mission. You've seen me. I can almost match Sonic's speed and Knuckles strength."

"And just what do you to intend to prove by going on ze mission."

"I feel like showing Robotnik that by doing this to me, he's only made things worse for himself."

Antoine shook his head, slipping the timing device into one of his coat pockets. "You are truly a wonder my princess, turning such a strange twist of ze fate against the doctor. I, personally, would have never even left ze comfort of my bed. Still, you are an inspiration to us all and…"

"Thank you Antoine." Sally interrupted, not wanting to hear one of Antoine's long winded, impromptu speeches. "But, we had better get back to the command center."

"You may go head my princess. I think I would prefer to walk."

"Oh, now come on Antoine, don't be a baby." At that Sally grabbed up Antoine, lifting him up to her back and making sure he grabbed on before she leapt up to a nearby tree branch and began to surge through the tree canopy, the cowardly French coyote screaming at the top of his lungs.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Is everyone ready?" Sonic asked, looking over his shoulder. The sun was just about to finish setting, the pale green glow caused by Dr. Robotnik's pollution tainting the whole world vile green tone. Sitting in the sand buggy, the sail already spread out and ready to catch the wind, Tails gave a thumbs up while Knuckles and Bunnie held the sand buggy in place, panning to jump when it was time to leave.

Sally just gave Sonic a gently nod, standing beside the sand buggy. Since she really couldn't' fit into her own clothing, someone in the village had quickly sown together a make shift vest for her. Since boots were neigh impossible for her larger feet, Sally carried Nicole in a pocket of the makeshift vest, the palm sized computer tucked down to ensure it wouldn't fall out when she was running.

After getting confirmations from everyone Sonic smiled, shifting as he turned to look at the sunset. When the final bits of the sun disappeared beneath the horizon he smiled, his feet shifting before he surged forward. Seeing Sonic race off quickly had the others following in his wake. Knuckles and Bunnie released the sand buggy, jumping in as the wind quickly carried it up to a fairly quick speed. Sally ran beside them, her mutated legs allowing her to keep up with buggy easily while Sonic ran ahead to scout the way.

Soon, Robotropolis grew from a dark mass on the horizon into a towering city, the group racing up near the boarder. After taking a few minutes to hide the sand buggy waited for a Security Eye to pass by before running into the alleys. Though the small spaces were a little of a tight squeeze for the new, much larger Sally, everyone made it through with relative ease and soon reached their separation point.

"All right," Sally said, looking down at the others. "Remember the plan. Once you guys make a large enough distraction Tails and I will try to enter the Network Station. If anything goes wrong, Tails will launch of a red flare. If we succeed, he'll launch of the green."

"And if we see the green one, we split. If we see the red, I'll draw Robutnik's bots away while Bunnie and Knuckles come to help." Sonic echoed, tapping his foot, "Yeah… yeah Sal, we know the plan. Don't put up to much of a fight, but keep security occupied. We have done this you know."

"Ya, but don't forget Robotnik's got his new gun, unless you want to know what its like to have four arms and be this big."

"Nah, I think I'll pass." Sonic replied, winking, "Well, gotta juice." At that Sonic grabbed knuckles and Bunnie, peeling out a moment before zipping off towards the SwatBot Assembly plant. Sally and Tails watched them leave, and once they were out of sigh Tails quickly got up onto Sally's back before she began to run in the direction of the Network Station.

Dr. Robotnik was humming gently to himself, walking down the halls of his citadel. Licking his lips a little, he big bellied doctor had just finished dinner and was now going to enjoy a bath before getting another, peaceful night of sleep. After all, the Freedom Fighters would certainly be panicking about Sally's mutation; they wouldn't even bother trying to attack.

Still, just as Dr. Robotnik reached his door, planning to enter his voice password to get inside his room, the alarms in the hallway began to go off. Dr. Robotnik cringed, turning as he watched Core's flying monitor come out of the roof and float up to him.

"Don't tell me…"

"Three entities have been detected attempting to sabotage SwatBot Assembly Plant 3. Intruders identified as Sonic the Hedgehog, Knuckles Echidna, and Bunnie Rabbot."

"Curse that hedgehog. Still, without Sally leading them maybe I can finally trip up that super sonic rodent. Launch all SwatBot squads and tanker units. Also have my hover pod ready to launch and have the LLIS rifle mounted on the firing pole."

"Yes Dr. Robotnik." Core replied, quickly sending orders across the city's vast computer network. Cursing and grumbling under his breath Dr. Robotnik lumbered over to the nearest elevator, taking up to the citadels flight deck before stepping out on it. As he had requested, the hover craft was ready and waiting. It was more like a big flying balcony, large metal rails surrounding it on all sides. It was slow moving, but it allowed him to survey a battle or his city without separating himself form the comforts of his citadel.

As the hovercraft slowly floated towards the Assembly Plan, several security ships zoomed by, racing to join the ensuing fight. Dr. Robotnik could only frown as he saw a few fires had already sprouted from the building, and he saw one particular blue blur zipping around the streets and his SwatBots like they were standing still.

It was then, from amongst the fight, a large hunk of metal came careening into the air. It was only through a quick move to the left that the large piece of scrap didn't hit the hover craft. Dr. Robotnik cursed out loud, grabbing the metal rail as he quickly looked towards the battle ensuing below. "Core, bring out all battle tanks. I don't care how, but at least one of those rodents isn't leaving this city alive."

"Yes Dr. Robotnik. Alerting all nearby tank divisions."

"The distraction is working Sally," Tails said, looking through a pair of binoculars. "I even see Dr. Robotnik's hover platform."

"Well, they definitely got his attention." Sally replied, looking out in the direction of the battle. She was hanging off an abandoned broadcast tower, well above the rest of the buildings in the area. After seeing a few battle tanks zip by in the streets below Sally told Tails to hold on tight before she leapt off the tower. The pair flew up into the air, and then began to arch down as gravity went to work.

Coming down with a resounding thump, Sally landed on the roof of the Network Station. Tails quickly got down from her back, jogging over towards the center of the roof. Pulling a screwdriver out of the backpack that he was wearing, Tails quickly opened up a panel on the roof and began fiddling with the wires inside. Soon, a large door in the roof the network station began to open up; usually used to airlift in supplies to the station for the robots that maintained the facility.

"I'll go first Tails. You wait here until I give you the all clear." Sally said, waiting for Tails to nod his head in agreement before dropping down into the building. She quickly ducked behind a stack of crates, letting her strange new sixth sense get a feel for the area. The top level seemed to be mostly storage, only one robot and it was just a mindlessly vacuum-scrubber meant to keep the floors clean.

"Come on in Tails," Sally shouted up through the sky light, Tails flying in and landing a few moments later. Thus, the pair began their work, Sally keeping guard in the hall while Tails searched the storage rooms in the top floor. After about ten minutes, he had found a blank Storage Block. With a means of transporting the data in hand, Tails led the way down to the lower levels of the Network Station.

They had gone down easily ten stories when the actually entered the media storage room. It was like a huge library, filled with towering shelves that were silver colored and occupied with what looked like an endless supply of generic black books. Still, the pair knew better, the black books nothing more than storage shelves in the subsections.

"Quickly, we need to find the right Storage Block."

Tails nodded, and staring to spin his tails as he took flight and began to hover around the banks. Sally lumbered slowly, her eyes moving between the different numbered shelves. It was a shout from Tails that drew her attention, the two tailed fox smiling and waving as he pointed at one of the shelves. Sally quickly moved up beside him, smiling as she saw a bright colored number green imprinted on the side of the shelf.

"All right, now were looking for subsection Gamma, Storage Block H."

"Well, it looks like there are five sections to the book shelf, and this first one is marked Alpha. So, it makes sense that third section is Gamma. And then…" At that Tails took flight, hovering along the collection of Storage Blocks before smiling and pointing at one in particular. "Here it is, Storage Block H."

"Great job Tails. Now, all we need is a copying station."

Still, at that same moment a clank at the far end of the room made both Sally and Tails freeze. The mutated princess quickly focused her new sixth sense, seeing it was a patrolling SwatBot. She quickly shoved Tails up onto of the shelf and moved down to the end, ducking behind the shelves and hoping the robot didn't notice them.

The SwatBot used its finger flashlight ever few shelves, stopping and flashing it around before continuing his way across the room. He was just passing by Sally and Tails, both holding perfectly still. It looked like the robot was not going to notice them when he saw something flash out from the top of the shelf. He trained his light on the area, moving closer.

Tails didn't realize it, but he was trembling a little and it was causing his tails to move around. One was flicking into view, and the SwatBot had lifted up his other hand, preparing to fire. Still, in a flash Sally burst out of her hiding spot, plowing into the SwatBot and sending him crashing into the far wall of the room. She however, didn't stop there as she leapt at the SwatBot. As the robot crashed the floor Sally came down on top of him, her feet crushing it flat in two different places.

"Whoa Sally"

"We don't have time right now Tails. That SwatBot might have gotten an alarm signal off. We have to get that data copied."

Tails nodded, and after a bit more searching the pair found a data copying station. They inserted the blank drive into the station, and selected the proper Storage Block from the records and then watched as the system began copying. Still, even though the data was copying fairly quickly an alarm began to ring out through the facility.

"Shoot, the copying station must have been rigged with an alarm."

"It's only just started copying."

"Keep an eye on the drive and pull it out the second it done. I'll keep the SwatBots busy."

Tails nodded, watching as Sally quickly lunged out into the center of walkway of the room. Because of the distraction Sonic and the others were causing, there were only a handful of SwatBots in the facility. Still, they had all come running when the alarm was triggered, bursting through the door.

Sally growled, bending down defensively as the SwatBots lined up on one side of the room. "Freeze, you're under arrest by the authority of Dr. Robotnik. If you do not surrender you will be executed."

Sally didn't reply, just bending down as she prepared to make her move. The SwatBots took her silence as a sign of her defiance, and quickly opened fire. Before she could get hit Sally leapt up into the air, doing and flip and landing behind the SwatBots. Before they could react she spun around, two of her arms stretching out as she back handed a large group of robots, knocking their heads off.

The others quickly began to fire, but Sally took cover behind a block of data and the SwatBots abruptly stopped firing. Sally couldn't help but smile. While the SwatBots would fire aimlessly in other sections of the city, they wouldn't risk it around such a large collection of Dr. Robotnik's data.

Still, the SwatBots weren't complete idiots and began employing basic police tactics. Each took a row in the data storage, walking down it slowly as they tried to find Sally. Still, separating was the stupid idea as Sally quickly picked off all the robots one by one, using her claws to dig into their armor and rip off arms, legs, heads, and otherwise trashing the robots like they were paper.

Sally was finding it so easy to tear through the SwatBots, she didn't notice about half a dozen more come in the room. Without a warning, the new squad of robots began firing and one of their shots managed to graze Sally in the shoulder. Though usually such a thing wouldn't be such a big deal, as she felt the pain surging through her something just snapped.

Sally shifted, her eyes narrowing and mouth opening before she let out a very animalistic roar. The SwatBots took a tentative step back, their retreat functions debating whether or not they should fight or take flight. Still, before they could even make a decision Sally pounced on them, roaring a second time as she began tearing into them.

In the corner of the room, the roars had sent a shiver down Tail's spine. He didn't want to admit it to himself, but he knew the only thing in the room that could make that noise was Sally. The Storage Block copy had finished, but Tails choose to remain where he was, feet rooted to the ground and the newly copied data held firmly in his hands.

Finally, after the room had fallen silent Tails slowly crept forward, sticking his head out past the edge of a shelf. Sally was standing amongst a crumpled heap of SwatBots, panting. Tails took another step out, his foot hitting a bolt of one of the robots and causing it to clatter.

Sally turned on a dime, facing Tails. The two tailed fox froze, his eyes meeting with Sally's. It was strange, but though they were the same color and shape those eyes were not Sally's. They were wild, savage, things that belonged to no Mobian. Still, as a few tense moments passed Sally blinked, her normal eyes returning as she shook her head. When she opened her eyes again, the kindness in her gaze had returned.

"Are you all right?" Tails asked tentatively, feeling much safer then he had but a few moments before.

"Ya, I guess I just lost my temper. Do you have the data?"

Tails nodded, holding up the Storage Block. Sally smiled, quickly moving over to Tails. The young fox slipped the Storage Block into his backpack and climbed up onto Sally's back before the mutated princess quickly began to sprint through the facility, knocking over a few robots as the pair made their way to the roof.

With a final sturdy leap Sally surged out of the station, landing on the roof before glancing back to make sure she hadn't lost Tails. The young fox however was still there, flashing a smile at Sally before shifting and searching his backpack. After a few moments he drew his hand back out, bring with it a flare gun.

"Make sure to launch the green flare."

"Okay," Tails chimed back, loading a flare into the gun and quickly pointing it skyward. With a loud thoomp the flare shot up into the sky, whistling for a moment before surging to life and letting off a bright green glow. Once the flare was off Tails put the flare gun back into his backpack, and after getting a good grip on Sally's neck she leapt off the roof, landing on short building before jumping down to the streets and starting to run towards the rendezvous.

"Hey Sonic!" Knuckles shouted, finding a moment of piece in the swarm of SwatBots.

"Ya!" The blue hedgehog replied, skidding to a stop.

Knuckles just pointed skyward, drawing Sonic attention to the flare that was floating slowly to earth. He smiled, quickly breaking into speed as he zipped around the SwatBots, snatching up Bunny and Knuckles before coming to a stop down the street.

"Hey Robutnik," Sonic shouted, causing the fat dictator to spin around, teeth gritted in anger. "Thanks for playing, but you loose again." At that Sonic put his hand, forming an L on his head and sticking out his tongue before grabbing Bunnie and Knuckles and sprinting off, a sonic boom cutting through the air.

"Core," Dr. Robotnik shouted, "Where was that flare fired from?"

"Trajectory indicates it was launch from the roof of Network Systems Facility 23."

"Contact security detail there, give me a status report."

"Sir, reports say that two intruders access the building and were discovered in data storage. All SwatBots in the building that were not summoned to defend assembly plant are non-responsive. Otherwise facility has sustained no damage."

"Core, why wasn't I told there were intruders?"

"I attempted sir, but you commanded me to stay silent so you could focus on the fight here."

'Very well, but when we get back to the citadel I want a full review of all security tapes. I want to know who did it, how they did it, and what they did. If the Freedom Fighters didn't destroy the facility, they must have taken something and I want to know what."

"Yes, Dr. Robotnik."

Sonic and the others could only cheer as they came up beside the Great Forest. After quickly concealing the sand buggy beneath a sand colored sheet the group found their way into the forest, entering Knothole a few minuets later. Sonic thrilled Tails with the story of how the fights with Robutnik's robots went while Knuckles, Bunnie, and Sally walked silently behind, all fairly pleased how well the mission had gone.

Just as the group was nearing the headquarters Sonic finished his story, and after glancing back over his shoulder once he asked, "So, how did Sally do?"

"Oh, you should have seen her Sonic. She jumped so high, I could see the entire city. And when she fought those SwatBots at the Network Facility, she tore through them like tissue paper."

Sonic laughed, looking back, "Well Sally, maybe we shouldn't be in such a rush to get you back to normal. Sounds like you're a natural SwatBot shredder."

"Thanks Sonic, but I think I would rather be making plans and helping on the technical end then be a Bot Shredder. Besides, I thought you liked breaking Robotnik's toys."

"There are only two things I like better, chili dogs and going super sonic. Still, doesn't mean there isn't enough to go around."

"Hey, now don't forget about us?" Knuckles spoke up, not wanting anyone to overlook the fact that he had trashed a large chunk of robots that evening, including three battle tanks. Bunnie had also shown her stuff, everyone really just showing off their A game.

"Ah, how could I forget about you Knuckles, you're always shouting."

"I don't shout, I just speak firmly."

"Sure," Sonic said before he shifted, tilting his nose up as he sniffed the air. Before anyone knew it Sonic had split, running forward. After running to catch up it quickly became obvious why Sonic had bolted. Standing outside the headquarters, smiling was Rotor and Antoine, the pair having made some food for the others, including several Chili-dogs for the blue blur Sonic.

The others quickly joined in the meal, though Sally found eating to be a new experience with her strange new body. Instead of going for the fruit at first like she usually did she quickly grabbed a few chilidogs, putting a whole one in her mouth before chewing a few times and swallowing. It wasn't very lady like, as Bunnie pointed out, but when you're a four armed mutated squirrel princess you can get away with not followingn certain table manners.

With filled stomachs and a successful mission on their minds everyone parted ways for the evening, Sonic actually taking his time since he had eaten one to many chilidogs. As the others left Sally and Tails made their way inside the freedom fighters headquarters, Sally having to stoop to get inside but still able to fit through the door.

"All right Tails," Sally said, shifting from group leader to caring Aunt, "Even though you did a great job on the mission its way past your bedtime."

"Aw… can't I stay up a little longer. I'm not even…" Tails was then betrayed at this point, having to stifle a yawn. Sally chuckled at this point, putting a hand gently on Tails back and giving him a push. Still, not quiet ready to give up the fight, Tails made a quick plea. "Can you at least tuck me in?"

"I think I can manage that." Sally replied, having to walk on her hands to get through the tight halls of the headquarters. Still, even though the tight quarters made it a little difficult, Sally was soon gently tuck Tails into his bed. She had to be a lot gentler with her sharp claws, ensuring she didn't poke tails or put a hole in his blanket. Still, the two tailed fox was soon resting comfortably in his bed, yawning a second time.

"Good night Aunt Sally."

"Good night Tails," Sally replied, gently turning of the light in his room before backing out and shutting the door. With tails tucked away Sally made her way to her own bedroom. With a little effort, she was able to fit on her bed and still be rather comfortable, her body taking up most of the mattress. Thankful that her bed frame was supporting her weight, Sally covered herself with a blanket and rested her head on a small stack of pillow, yawning wide for herself before drifting off.

Still, while Sally was good and tired from the day Tails was not so much. After waiting a while to make sure Sally at left he turned on the light in his room and then quickly moved over to his desk. While he couldn't get a hold of Nicole, he did have the Storage Block and a much simpler computer of hi sown that he had built out of different parts. After quickly assembling the whole mess he began poking around the data files.

After snooping around and finding a lot of fairly worthless junk, like repair reports and other such things, Tails found a file of actual interest. It was tucked away in a folder, a back up to research projects. After opening a few of the files he found the one he was looking for, a digital image of the strange rifle Dr. Robotnik had used visible at the top of the readout.

Screen Readout

Project: Z8H6M

Code Name: Project Lystric.

Project Basis:

Research is at Dr. Robotnik's request of finding someway to disrupt Freedom Fighter movements. Conventional means are proving ineffective, so project was given to Think Tank 12.

Initial Research:

Think Tank 12 first began analyzing Freedom Fighter movements, trying to detect a weakness to be exploited. Weakness selected is the chain of command. If someone higher up in the chain of command could be taken out of the picture the plans would loose effectiveness and Freedom Fighter disturbances would drop.

After identifying chosen target, Think Tank began trying to identify possible means of attacking weakness. Early concepts were all proven impossible, impractical, or ineffective in theoretical phase when put against simulated Freedom Fighter situations. Finally, one researcher proposed a new branch of research to which no attention had been previous paid in Robotropolis. Weaponized Mutagenic Compounds.

Theoretical Phase:

With focus of research identified Think Tank 12 began working on how to create a weaponized compound that could induce severe mutations in living tissue. Two other problems were identified in this stage. A delivery system for the compound and the source DNA for the compound.

Heart off Research:

Much time had to be devoted to researching the desired end result, possible ancient species, and possible means of reaching the desired end. Several different theories were tried and most ended on design board. First issue was no significant samples of DNA to species that had appropriate traits for end result.

Solution to issue of DNA was to synthetically develop a creature ideal for the project. This took several months, but once desired creature was developed designing a weapon and means of instigating mutation were fairly simple.

End Result:

Developed three entities. First was the delivery weapon, code named the Lystric… Long-range...Injection… System. The LLIS. Weapon used basic energy bullet technology but, upon the ammunitions depart from the barrier it passes through a thick membrane of Lystric Mutagenic Compound. This coats ammo, and upon contact with living flesh the compound quickly seeps into the skin, releasing a virus.

The second and other key attribute to this project was the final development of the Lystric. Based upon several animals and Mobians, it is a creature developed to be a strong carnivore that is one of if not the deadliest animals on Mobius. Lystric research and description can be found in separate research file.

The Lystric Mutagenic Compound was developed to cause a mutation in any living creature exposed to it. Design to mix Lystric genetics with the hosts, the subject will undergo a progressive mutation as it's becomes a hybrid between the two species. The Mutagenic Compound is spread via viruses, infecting cells with the genetic code. The timeline for the pathogen is as follows.

First 24 hours – Aggression in animals, short tempered and irritable in Mobians.

Next 6 hours – Physical mutations, reaching final physical form.

Next 210 hours – Status lock, pathogen prepares for final stage.

Last 12 hours – Mental breakdown. Subject will loose all sentience if any is exhibited, and will become animalistic with an insatiable hunger for meat. Hunter that will never stop hunting.

Anyone infected by compound will, in ten days, become a danger to everything around it and, in such, by infecting key individuals in Freedom Fighter resistance a disruption in chain of command can not only be achieved by there is also a high probability of demoralization among the ranks.

Subject may also prove useful in other means, for it is left alive after Ten day period it will begin to hunt anyone in the near proximity, and in such could kill several other Freedom Fighters before is either brought down or chased off.

End Note:

One Prototype has been produced, currently in the possession of Dr. Robotnik.

Prototype was tested on one capture Mobian with the infection strength increased so that the whole process would be complete in the span of a few hours. Video surveillance from test rooms was compiled into a quad screen video feed and stored as LystricT1Video2344.

End of on Screen Readout

Tails was still as stone, only his eyes moving as he reread the last few lines of he readout. It… it wasn't over. Sally was going to get worse, and it didn't sound good. Still, Tails wouldn't believe it and quickly backed out of the research file. He opened a second file, this one detailing the Lystric creature that Dr. Robotnik's think tank had developed. Tails hated to admit it, but Sally did look a lot like the strange creature. At first glance it looked like someone had crossed a wolf with a stick bug. The body was long and gangly, as were its four arms, while the legs and torso was thick and powerful and the head looked like a savage wolf, bearing its teeth and growling.

The Lystric data file echoed the same things the weapons research file did, how it acted very aggressively and was constantly on the hunt with an insatiable appetite. Still, Tails quickly backed out and opened up the research video. The hologram screen on his computer quickly shifted, breaking apart into four separate, smaller screens as the video began to play. Each screen was showing the view from one of four cameras in a research room, three looking down from the ceiling while a four look straight on from behind what Tails could only assume was a two way mirror.

It wasn't a person Tails new, a tiger man that looked fairly strong and defiant. He was pounding on the walls, shouting at Dr. Robotnik and saying a few things Tails knew he really wasn't supposed to be hearing. Still, he turned the volume down on his hodgepodge of a computer and just read the scientific notes that appeared on the bottom of the main video feed, which was looking at the tiger man through the two way mirror.

"Initial Injection" A note quickly flashed before the tiger man in the figure was shot with several bursts from something in the ceiling. It was enough to cause the man to black out, and as he hit the ground a time appeared in the bottom corner of the main screen, starting to mark of the time.

"Increase Speed Test. Stage 1 of Mutagenic Compound should end in 1 hour."

At that the tape began to skip, showing the tiger man in short bursts before he began to get close to the one hour mark. At that point his anger driven protests seemed to drop off significantly and he eventually passed out on the floor. Tail covered his eyes for the next part, knowing that the tiger man was mutating and not wanting to have nightmares.

When Tails opened his eyes the tiger man had mutated almost exactly like Sally, and had now resumed his efforts of pounding on the walls of the examination room and shouting something at the doctor. A one point, the group introduced something into the room. It was a cute little dog, which seemed more then happy to finally have company. The dog seemed to comfort the tiger man, who petted the dog before it was called back to where ever it had been released from.

The time lapse then hit the tenth hour, the whole video taking about half an hour to watch thanks to the edited time skips. At that point a new line flashed at the bottom of the screen, it saying, "Now Entering Final Sage."

Tails watched, expecting some visible change, but nothing seemed to be happening. The man was stumbling around a little, his shouts growing weaker as he paused to hold his head at times. He then looked at the camera, and tails felt his heart skip a beat. He had seen the man's eyes before, and they now looked a lot different. It was the same wild, feral look Sally had given him after she had just finished trashing those SwatBots.

Fifteen minutes into the last half hour the dog was released back into the room. It padded right up to the tiger man, but instead of petting it like he did earlier the tiger man began growling and hissing. He closed his eyes, like he was concentrating hard or in pain, and then without warning he snatched the dog up and sunk his teeth into its side. Tails quickly covered his eyes for the rest, peaking once but quickly recovering his eyes when he saw that a large cow had been lowered into the room and the tiger man was in the process of attacking it.

Finally, after ten minutes Tails uncovered his eyes. The timer on the bottom of the screen read 10:35, five minutes after the pathogen had run its course. The tiger man was prowling around the room, growling and roaring like a wild animal. His fur was dripping with blood and the white walls of the room were stained with it. Tails was only thankful that after a few moments after he uncovered his eyes the video feed ended.

Still, as Tails stood up his legs were quivering so much he had to hold onto his desk to keep himself from falling on the floor. The original fear was of that tiger man, but then something else clicked in Tails mind and he slumped down to his knees. Sally… she was… Tails felt sick to his stomach, his dinner trying to come up. The two tailed fox managed to keep himself from puking, but he was still trembling like mad.

That man in the video… that could have been Sally… it would be Sally… if they didn't do anything she was going to…

Tails couldn't stand it anymore, feeling horrible. Even though he could barely stand he somehow found enough strength of mind and body to run out of his bedroom, down the hall, and quickly burst into Sally's room. The sudden sound of someone throwing open her door was enough to wake up Sally, who turned over to see Tails had jumped up onto her bed. Before the mutated princess could react he had jumped at her, wrapping his arms around her neck and holding on tightly.

"What's wrong Tails?" Sally asked, "Did you have a nightmare?"

Tails shook his head. Even though everything that was happening was something you could expect in a nightmare, he knew it wasn't a dream. With a little encouragement Sally got Tails to let go of her neck, setting the young genius down on her bed and sitting beside him, one hand gently resting on his shoulder as she asked, "Then what's wrong. You look like you've seen a monster."

Tails couldn't hold himself back, and began to tell Sally everything he had seen. Though she wasn't happy to hear that Tails had gotten out of bed, she kept quiet and listened to everything he said. It was hard to get a feel for what he had watched in the video, and Tails was rushing so quickly that Sally wasn't able to understand some of the things he said.

Still, after he finished Sally, who could only really graze from the conversation that something very bad would happen to her in a few days because of the mutation, she did the only thing she could. She tried to calm Tails down, smiling as gently and comfortingly as she could.

"It's going to be all right, everything is going to be all right." Sally said, repeating herself a few times. As usual, Sally's words managed to calm Tails down, getting him to lie down on her bed and finally start breathing normally again. After getting him calmed down Sally laid down for herself again, bringing the blanket over them both. Though Tails was smart, he was still just a kid, and she knew that tonight was one of those nights when the only way he would get any sleep is if he stayed with her.

"Sally," Tails said a while later, obviously teetering on the verge of sleep, "I'm scared."

"Of what Tails?"

"That… that you'll end up like that tiger guy. That you'll…"

"Don't worry Tails; we'll get this figured out before anything like that can happen. Besides, that tiger man was all alone. I've got you, Sonic, and all the others to help me. With all these people helping, I'll be back to normal in no time."

"Promise?"

"I promise," Sally replied, leaning her head and planting a kiss on Tails' forehead. "Now, try to get some sleep."

Tails nodded, and soon he had drifted off. Sally smiled to see Tails was able at least get some rest, but at the same time a bit of fear had sprouted in the back of her own mind. What exactly had Tails seen that had spooked him so badly? Sally was half tempted to look at the video herself, but decided to wait until morning. After all, she needed a good night sleep as much as Tails did.

The next morning, while Tails slept late in her bedroom, Sally took the Storage Block up to the command center and looked over everything. Sonic and Knuckles came in, just as curious as Tails had been about what kind of information was kept on the Storage Block. Sally filled the pair in as far as she had gotten, and then they looked over the rest together. The final thing was the video, which they all watched in silence. Unlike Tails, none of them covered their eyes and they kept the volume on so they could hear what was happening.

When the video ended, all three were speechless. Knuckles was growling, his own anger flaring as he was us barely able to keep himself from punching the table. Sonic was taken a few steps back, resting a hand on one of the supports that kept the command centers roof suspended above the open air deck.

Sally, however, was standing perfectly still, her mind clicking back to evens of last night. When she had been shot by one of those SwatBots, she had felt like she had lost herself for a moment. She just thought she had gotten angry, but that wasn't right. From a moment in the video, it was easy to see that getting hurt bad enough caused the tiger man to quickly lapse into the wild, feral state he was trapped in a the end.

"Dr. Robotnik has gone to far this time." Knuckles cursed, the silence to unbearable and the red echidna needing to break it before he broke something else.

"He has, Knuckles, but we can't worry about him right now." Sonic countered, the video having brought his much more mature, serious side of his nature. "How many days has it been since Sally was infected?"

"She was shot in the neck a few nights ago, then she was irritable all one day, and then she was like this yesterday. So, two days."

"We still have eight days to figure out how to reverse this. That should be more then enough."

"No," Sally replied, shaking her head, "It may not be enough."

"Don't you give up on me Sal."

"I'm not giving up Sonic I'm being realistic. The only way to stop this is if we were able to get the virus that is causing the mutation out of my system. Still, viruses are extremely difficult to destroy. It took years of research to develop a cure to the flu virus, and that was before Dr. Robotnik attacked. It takes advanced equipment and special chemicals to even be able to start testing cures, and we don't have any of that."

"Then we'll get the cure from Dr. Robotnik."

"We don't even know if he has one Sonic." Sally countered, holding her head with one hand. "We have to be realistic. Unless we get help, there is no way we could cure me of the virus before I've gone through the final stage, and we have no clue if the virus is even reversible after that point."

"So, what do you want to do?" Knuckles asked.

"We go about business as usual. We'll make an attack on the warehouse to try and find the roboticizer plans tonight. If Dr. Robotnik shows up, then we'll confront him. If he has a cure, he'll try to make a bargain with us. If he doesn't, he'll rube it in our faces. Either way, we'll know and we'll be able to plan our next move."

"And, in case he doesn't have a cure…"

Sally was silent for a time, lowering her head. Eventually she managed to speak, her voice low… "Then, then about half an hour before mind supposed to start deteriorating, I'll leave Knothole. If this data is accurate, I could be a very dangerous threat to Dr. Robotnik as long as I put myself in Robotropolis before I loose control. That way, I can still at least be somewhat helpful to the cause."

A silence fell on the command center, and each of the there were so wrapped up in their own thoughts they didn't notice the sound of a few small footsteps running down he stairs.

Tails burst into his bedroom, quickly flopping down on his bed as he buried his head in his pillow. Writhing in his stomach like a mad snake were a whole mixtures of emotions. Tails was angry at Dr. Robotnik, heartbroken hearing that there may be no way to stop the process, but mostly he was feeling betrayed. Sally… she had promised everything would be all right. She promised that, because she had Sonic, Knuckles, and everyone else to help that she would be all right, and they were already talking about what would happen if they couldn't do anything.

With a stern conviction on his face Tails looked up from his pillow. They may be ready to give up but he wasn't. He wasn't going to let Sally turn into a monster, and he wouldn't stop fighting even after it was to late. With that Tails quickly jumped out of bed and moved over to his desk. He reassembled his strange hodgepodge computer, connecting all the components. He then ducked under his bed, pulling out a box and opening it up.

In the box was a component Tails had assembled very carefully, knowing Sally would never let him keep it if she saw what it was. Taking the component Tails hooked it into the hodgepodge computer, making sure it was working right and encrypting its signal before turning on the rest of his computer. It was a make shift communication board, a much larger version of a chip Nicole had. It was what let the palm sized computer access Robotnik's network.

And Tails could only smile as he found he was able to access Robotropolis's computer systems using his makeshift component. After moving through a familiar set of screen Tails began a chat session with Uno, the strange entity replying with the same very short, precise sentences.

"Hello Tails."

"Hello Uno."

"We're you and Sally successful?"

"Yes, we got the data, and we know everything about the rifle and the project."

"That is good."

"Yes, but now we know what's happening to Sally. Please, Uno, is there a cure?"

"A cure?"

"Something that will turn Sally back to normal or even just stop the viruses, so that she doesn't turn into a monster."

"Isn't she already a monster?"

"NO, SHE'S NOT!"

"You will have to specify what you mean by monster."

"Sally is still Sally as long as she is the same nice, sweet person. I don't care what she looks like, but if we don't stop the virus we'll loose the real Sally, she'll turn into some blood thirsty monster."

"Ah, so you define one as a monster by their mental state."

Tails felt himself getting angry, his fingers hammering down on the keys. "Quit talking to me like this is a science experiment. Sally isn't a lab rat, she is a person and she needs my help. But, I can't help her unless you tell me if there is a cure."

"I am sorry Tails, but you know I cannot broadcast such information."

"Just tell me, yes or no."

Uno didn't reply for a time, and Tails was wondering if he was searching the system. Still, the reply Uno sent back was strange, something Tails had not been expecting.

"Maybe"

"Maybe? What do you mean maybe?"

"I cannot disclose data for sure."

Tails paused, both aggravated but calm enough to think about the phrasing of his question. "Is there any file in Robotnik's system that pertains to the matter of a cure for mutation weapon he used on Sally?"

"No"

"Then why did you say maybe?"

"Possible partial exists."

"Do you mean a partial cure?"

"Yes"

Tails rubbed the bridge of his nose, grumbling. What was Uno trying to say. Dr. Robotnik didn't have a cure yet there was something else, otherwise Uno wouldn't be saying maybe. And a partial, what would be a partial cure. It was a like a riddle, and Tails was too aggravated to really think it through, at least get the answer as quickly as usual. Still, after sitting and pondering the thoughts for a few minutes he leaned forward again and typed on the keyboard.

"Uno, do you know of a partial cure?"

"Yes"

"When you say partial cure, do you mean it will stop the virus from advancing?"

"Yes"

Tails smiled, now he was getting somewhere. "Can you tell me?"

"Maybe"

"Can you tell me over the network connection?"

"No, security protocols would alert Dr. Robotnik."

"How can you tell me?"

"Face to Face"

"Okay, just tell us where you are in Robotropolis and we'll come talk to you."

"Impossible"

"Why?"

"I am kept in an area that is utterly inaccessible to everyone except Dr. Robotnik and his robots."

"Where are you?"

"The citadel"

Tails eyes narrowed, his mind flipping through his memory. Uno was INSIDE Dr. Robotnik's citadel. That was the most heavily guarded section of the entire city. Beside the Dr. Robotnik himself, if anything organic came within range of the citadels turrets they would be fried. Even Sonic didn't dare get to close to the citadel, the turrets able to lay down a carpet of fire that even he wouldn't be able to avoid.

At the same time, Tails felt a strong conviction rising up from his stomach. He didn't care how impossible it was, he wasn't going to let Sally turn into a monster. He would do whatever took, he'd even punch Dr. Robotnik in the jaw if it would save Sally. With a strange fire in his eyes Tails typed on the keyboard, sending his reply message.

"Do you know anyway in to the citadel?"

Uno paused in his reply again. Tails didn't know if this meant he was thinking or, if Uno just maybe didn't want to reply. Didn't want to give him information that could put himself or Tails in danger. Or didn't want to give information that could help Sally. No matter the reason for the pause, Uno eventually replied, the text appearing slowly.

"Access to nearby area requires level nine maintenance clearance or greater. Only three entities exist with proper clearing. Dr. Robotnik and two maintenance droids. Dr. Robotnik only makes visits if something is wrong. No droid is scheduled to access area for general maintenance in the next two months. No way to access area inside timeline of viral mutagen."

"Come on Uno, there has to be someway. I'll do anything. Please."

"Check in the Storage Block, file TT26. May offer access to citadel. And Tails…"

"Ya?"

"I'm sorry"

"What are you apologizing for?"

Still, Uno didn't reply and instead broke off his connection with Tails. The fox sat back a little bit, his anger against Dr. Robotnik dying a little as he thought about Uno. The way he kept saying he was sorry the end of the transmission. It was like he felt guilty. Could of he had a hand in Dr. Robotnik's weapon, or maybe this all really was a trap and Uno was trying to warn him.

Tails shook his head, no. If it was a trap something would have been waiting for him and Sally at the network station. No, Uno was feeling guilty about something, and Tails intended to find out what. Sooner or later he would, but at the moment he focused his attention on following Uno's suggestion. To examine file TT26 on the Storage Block.

Through out the rest of the day Tails tried to get a hold of the Storage Block, but there always seemed to be someone in the command center and he couldn't take it with someone seeing him. Finally, his opportunity came when several of the others left for a mission that evening, trying to get access to the warehouse where Dr. Robotnik's original roboticizer information was probably stored.

It was just after the others had left, when Tails was quickly able to run up stairs, grab the Storage Block, and run back to his bedroom. After hooking up the data drive he began searching the files, eventually coming across the TT26 file Uno had mentioned. He quickly opened it, eyes flying across the page.

Screen Readout

Project: Z7K5G

Developed by: Think Tank 26 (with add from all other Think Tanks during final refinement stage)

Note: This is full data log of research done on Project Z7K5G. No summary document has yet to be prepared since project is still in development.

Purpose: Think Tank 26 was formed and commissioned to meet Dr. Robotnik's request of finding ways to stop Freedom Fighter activity. It is taking on another project possibility developed by Think Tank 12.

Concept: This research is following the concept that a way to stop Freedom Fighter movements and attacks is to make all the members submit to Dr. Robotnik. This cannot be done willingly, so a forced submission is necessary. Only system currently available for force submission is Roboticizer.

Goal: Develop weaponized form of Roboticizer that allows for quick, if not instantaneous roboticization of any subject that can be carried comfortably by Dr. Robotnik or any SwatBot unit.

End of this Section

Tails was horrified, thinking that Dr. Robotnik was developing a weaponized version of the roboticizer. It would make things a lot harder and more dangerous for them. Still, even though he hated the thought of a roboticizer gun he kept reading. He only stopped once, his amazing reading speed and great intelligence allowing him to tear through all the technical aspects of the research project and eventually get to the end.

Screen Readout

Beta Testing:

Using simulation software, Think Tank 26 is currently testing proposed design for a weaponized roboticizer. Research is currently stalled at this point and is falling behind schedule. Issues with current prototype build is as follows.

Issues with Roboticizer Cannon V 7.892

1. Roboticization takes time to be permanent. Because new technology has been pioneered to allow for low energy flesh/system conversion, process has to set in. All digital simulation tests show that it takes twenty four hours for effects to become irreversible. Before then, if subject is hit with a surge of energy from weapon prototype that has its polarity reversed they can be turned back into flesh and bone.

2. Weaponized Roboticizer fails to implement suppression software. Not an issue with original, chamber design because when subject was being transformed the suppression software was also being downloaded to robotic components, working from limbs up to the head. Due to speed of roboticization process, program cannot be installed before subject is completely roboticized and the system initializes. Thus, the defensive software naturally developed by roboticized Mobians cancels suppression software install. Subject will maintain free will unless captured and software is forcefully installed to system by a physical connection.

3. If a subject has been roboticized and then deroboticized, if placed into standard Roboticizer the suppression software will be unable to download due to bodies previous experience with the process and pre-established defenses.

Strengths of Roboticizer Cannon v 7.892

1. Roboticization is takes 1/20 of a second to complete

2. Due to latest improvements in robot technology, weapon can produce much more technically advanced robots then current, chamber based roboticizer, which still uses out-dated robotic design templates.

3. Current build requires very standard equipment. Simple to outfit large sections of SwatBot patrols with design once system issues can be worked out.

Final Note:

Original, chamber based Roboticizer is not compatible with prototype since based on different variations of key concept. Unable to predict what would happen if tow technologies were crossed or even if one was used after a failed attempt by the other. Exhibit caution when operating the two within close proximity.

Technical Diagrams of Roboticizer Cannon v 7.792

Beneath the least line were digital images and plans for the weapon, and the final notes had been right. All the components were fairly simple. It was only the way they were put together that was able to create such an astounding effect, and the design really was ingenious. The only component that seemed to be rather uncommon was a piece of technology that had developed specifically for the cannon. It was the firing coils, which was what gave the spheres of energy fired by the cannon ability to turn bone into metal and flesh into circuitry.

Still, as Tails mind buzzed with everything he had just read, he began to remember what he had discussed with Uno. To access the citadel, and more specifically the room where Uno was stored, you'd either had to be Dr. Robotnik, a maintenance bot with level nine clearance, or you had to be with one of the two.

Tails looked back at the screen, the facts coming together quickly in his mind. Uno couldn't be suggesting… and yet it made sense. If he roboticized himself, he could easily access not only Robotropolis but the citadel. On top of that, due to current design of the weapon, he wouldn't be under Dr. Robotnik's control. Still, to actually choose to be roboticized. It was something that sent a shiver up Tails' spine.

At the same time, while the thought would have been quickly dismissed by a more mature mind, Tails' younger, more imaginative mind was finding another option. The notes at the end said that the cannon's effects could be reversed within twenty four hours by a reversely polarized blast. He could just turn himself into a robot for a short while, get in, talk to Uno and the get out. Still, the other problems then were not only getting in and out of Robotropolis in twenty four hours but to also figure out how to give himself level 9 maintenance access.

Tails rubbed his head, feeling like he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. To help Sally he would have to Roboticize himself, but if research was wrong he could be stuck like that and, even worse, he could be making himself Robotnik's slave. Still, if he didn't do anything Sally would could become a monster. This of course was all based on the fact that Uno wasn't lying and that he could actually help.

Still, while Tails' mind was still buzzing he heard noises coming from the hall. It had to be Antoine, who had stayed back from the mission. Tails quickly shut off his computer, leaping into bed just as the door opened. Antoine looked in, watching Tails for a time before closing the hall and walking back to the command center.

After lying there for a while the comfort of his bed began to lull Tails to sleep. Still, before drifting off Tails shifted, staring up at his ceiling. There were now only seven days before Sally would start changing mentally. If he worked quickly, that would give him time to assemble and run some rudimentary tests on the roboticizer cannon. That's if he was able to constructor the peculiar coil component in the barrel.

If he could do all that in say, two to three days, and he proved that could turn things back to normal within a twenty four hour period then… then maybe it was worth the risk. Tails didn't want to loose Sally, and if Uno could help then he had to at least consider it. Even if he was stuck as a robot, if he wasn't under Robotnik's control wouldn't it be worth it. Even if Uno wasn't offering a full cure, it would at least by time to find a full cure.

It was a lot of things to weigh, and even as he drifted off to sleep Tails mind continued to add different points to either side of the scale, trying to decide if he would take the risk or if they had time to find another way.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Tails groaned as he heard a knocking on his door. Sally poked her head in, saying fairly sweetly that it was time to get up. Tail groaned a quick reply, and after Sally left he sat up in his bed and stretched. He hadn't slept well, his mind buzzing with too many things. Still, if one good thing had come from the night it was a single decision. Sally said they were going to confront Robotnik. If he had a cure, he would have bargained for it. If not, he would have rubbed it in.

If Dr. Robotnik had a cure, then Uno would have lied. He would forget about the roboticizer cannon and focus in on helping the others get that cure. If there was no cure… then Uno would have been telling the truth and he'd take the risk. If anything, even if he became enslaved to Robotnik, it would be better for the Freedom Fighters. Roboticized Mobians could always break free of Dr. Robotnik, so he would always have a chance of coming back. Sally… if she was lost… she'd be lost forever. He wasn't going to let that happen, he'd protect her. Just like Sonic would.

After getting his shoes on Tails made his way to the kitchen, where Sally and a few of the others were sitting around. When he came in there was a strange silence in the room, like they had been talking about something they didn't want the young two tailed to know about. Still, Tails tried to ignore as he took a seat and was passed his breakfast.

"How did you sleep last night Tails?"

"All right," He lied, smiling at Sally. "How did the mission go?"

"The Roboticizer plans weren't stored in the warehouse. Dr. Robotnik must have them stashed some place else."

"Don't worry, we'll get a hold of them sooner or later." Tails commented optimistically. Still, the others quickly glanced at each other, a silence falling on the room. Sonic was the one that final broke the silence, asking if Tails would come with him. The pair walked out of the room, heading into the dirt paths that wound around Knothole.

"So, what's up Sonic?"

"Well, little buddy, I managed to have a few words with Dr. Robotnik last night. I confronted him about what he had done to Sally."

"And what did he say?"

"Not much, just boasting about what a genius even though it was innocent Mobians in one of his think tanks that thought up the whole thing. Still, I asked him about a cure and…"

Sonic paused at this, the blue hedgehog coming to a stop. "And, he says there isn't a cure."

Tails met Sonic's eyes, and he felt a pit in his gut. He was young, but he wasn't stupid. To Sonic, who didn't know about Uno or that he might know how to stop the process, the news that there was no cure was basically an admission that in seven days Sally would start becoming a real monster, her mind getting lost to the mutation.

Still, Tails feared that if he told Sonic about the robiticizer cannon and his plan that the blue blur would either try to stop him or insist he was the one that would go and talk to Uno. Tails was half inclined to let Sonic do it, but at the same time he knew that if things went wrong it would be better if he was Roboticized then Sonic, Knuckles, or anyone else. He was just a kid, and never really did much to help on missions. The others were the ones out fighting against Dr. Robotnik.

Putting any of them at risk of being captured by Robotnik would be much worse for the freedom fighters then if something went wrong and he became Robotnik's slave. So, Tails kept the secret of the cannon to himself, forcing a smile as he said, "Don't worry Sonic, we'll think of something. We still have seven days."

Sonic smiled, nodding his head, "That's the spirit Tails, we'll keep fighting up to the end, for a free Mobius."

Tails smiled, nodding his head as he stretched out his hand. Sonic took it, the pair shaking hands quickly before heading back to the headquarters. While Sonic went back to the kitchen Tails disappeared to his room, made a digital copy of the Roboticizer plans, and went to the workshop.

Thankfully, either because of the news or he was busy with other things, Rotor never came into the workshop. That gave Tails all the time and privacy he needed to assemble the Roboticizer Cannon. Since it was such an essential piece, Tails first tackled trying to assemble the firing coils. After scrounging around the workshop for an hour he found a metal coil of the right size and length, and was able to outfit it with the correct components. He actually had to gut another thing he had been working on, a portable shield generator, to get the necessary parts but soon the coil was completed.

With the essential and most uncommon part of the cannon done, Tails began assembling the rest following the plans while making a few modification of his own. While the cannon was meant to be attached to battle tanks and certain SwatBots, Tails modified the design so that to a normal sized Mobian it could be carried like a small rocket launcher, the main weight of the cannon being supported on the shoulder while it was aimed with a person's arms. He also added a means of mounting it to a pole, a timed fire function, and a polarizing dial so it was easy to change the polarity of the shots fired.

It took all day, Tails only stopping to get a quick sandwich for lunch. By dinner time, the cannon was complete and it was looking pretty darn good. Though it was a little rough in some places, since Tails was forced to use scrap metal for the exterior plating, the interior followed the blueprints exactly, including his own modifications.

With the hardware complete Tails searched the Storage Block and found a copy of the weapons current operating software. After double checking that he had the right version for the cannon he had constructed, he used his computer to install the software. Now, all that was left to do was test it.

After sticking his head out of the workshop for a moment Tails slipped out, stepping into the hall before closing the door quietly. Tails had the cannon strapped to his back, it rocking a little in place by a thick strap across his chest. He had covered the cannon itself in a thick blanket, so it only looked like he had a large cylinder on his back, not a weapon capable of roboticizing someone in 1/20th of a second.

After taking a few rarely traveled halls Tails found his way out the headquarters back door. He then quickly ran out into the forest, making sure he was a long ways away from the village before he began slowing down.

It took a while, but he finally found a perfect test subject. It was a small patch of flowers that were fairly spread apart. There were four clumps, each with about five flowers in the clump. It was a perfect test group, and once Tails made sure no one was around he uncovered the Roboticizer cannon, held it on his shoulder, and let it charge up.

Using only a simple pair of crosshairs to aim, Tails fired off a shot from the cannon. The kick back was fairly strong, making Tails stumble backwards a little since he hadn't been prepared for the force. Still, when he looked down at the first group of flowers he smiled as he saw that they were in fact roboticized, the stems and petals all now cold metal.

Now that he knew about the Cannon's kickback, Tails braced himself better as he fired off three more shots, each hitting one of the clumps of flowers. Once all four were groups were roboticized Tails turned a dial on the cannon, reversing its polarity before aiming and taking a shot.

Tails closed his eyes when the cannon fired, but when he opened them he could only smile. The group of flowers he had been aiming at was back to normal, made of natural living materials by the reversely polarized shot. This alone made Tails shout in triumphant, a little louder then he actually intended. The cannon worked, and it was able to reverse the effect.

Thus, Tails left the other three groups of flowers roboticized. He had to make sure that it was possible to turn the flowers back twelve and just before twenty four hours after they had been roboticized. He also took one of the groups of flowers with him back to the headquarters, to verify other key parts to his plan.

Though it was a little difficult to get a link into them, Tails eventually hooked the group of flowers into his keyboard and began searching their memory. He combed through everything, even checking hidden parts of the system memory. He had to be sure there was no trace of Dr. Robotnik's suppression software. If he couldn't find that, then anyone roboticized with the cannon would still maintain their free will. They would be under Robotnik's control in the least.

It was during this, however, that Tails was finally intruded on. He heard the door starting to open, and quickly began to panic as he realized he had left the cannon lying out on his bed. Lunging quickly he grabbed the cannon and tossed it unceremoniously under his bed and then jumped back to his desk, trying to look busy.

Knuckles came into view as he pushed the door open a little wider. No one had seen Tails all day, and some were getting worried. Still, Knuckles smile as he saw Tails, the young genius looking as if he had been just working on his makeshift computer.

"Hey Knuckles," Tails said, trying to act as natural as possible so not to raise suspicion.

"Hey yourself. Where have you been hiding all day?"

"I was working on something in the workshop, and then I went for a walk out in the forest, and then I came back here."

"That's it," Knuckled replied, a little surprised to hear how average Tails'day actually sounded.

"Ya," Tails replied, smiling. Still, the smile was what betrayed Tails the most, the forced looking grin making Knuckles lift and eyebrow. The red toned echidna began to look around the room, his eyes slowly crossing over every piece of furniture. His eyes then rested on the bed, where he noticed a large deformation in the bed covers. Something had been there, something fairly large.

"Tails, are you hiding something?" Knuckles asked, strolling over beside the bed.

"What make you say that?"

"No reason," Knuckled replied, stopping beside the bed. Tails felt his heart pounding, if Knuckles found the cannon he'd tell Sally, and he'd never be able to go through with his plan. The others wouldn't understand, or they would want to do it themselves. Still, tails felt his heart skip a beat as Knuckles bent down and looked under the bed.

Tails was ready to leap, to make a quick explanation when Knuckles brought the cannon out, but the echidna didn't. He just stood up straight, looking at Tails before strolling back to the door. "Okay, but you should go talk to Sally. She's been trying to find you the past two hours and she's a little worried.

"Okay, I will." Tails replied, waiting till Knuckles left before quickly racing to his bed. He bent down, looking under the bed and breathing a sigh of relief. Whether it had been luck or a good twist of fate, when he shoved the cannon under the bed it had slide all the way to the far end where it was too dark to really see it, especially for Knuckles who didn't have the best night vision. It also kind of just looked like some garbage, but even then it had still been a close call.

Knuckles little intrusion, however, made Tails think of something. The others would be worried sick if he suddenly up and disappeared for a day. This put Tails in a very peculiar position. To keep everyone from worrying, he had to have someone cover for him. To tell everyone that he was fine, but… to do that he would have to convince someone that he was doing the right thing.

Tails would have put more thought to his little conundrum, but since Sally was looking for him he decided to go and talk to her quickly. After all, he was waiting anyway to see if after twelve and nearly twenty four hours if the flowers would still turn back to normal. He had high hopes they would, since it would allow him to pull off his plan without being permanently roboticized.

Sally was up in the command center, sitting on the edge of the outer deck looking up at the sky. The sun had set, the heat of the day just starting to seep away and the chill of night settling in. Sally turned when Tails came up the stairs, smiling as she had the two tailed fox come over and take a seat beside her. She smiled, and he quickly returned it.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about Aunt Sally?" Tails asked, having a sinking suspicion in his gut that it would be about the virus.

"Can't I just want to spend some time with my favorite little fox?" Sally quickly countered, rubbing his head. Tails laughed, batting away Sally's hand before quickly straightening his head. The pair smiled and laughed, but the joy slipped away from Sally a little too quickly.

"Tails… you read the same document I did, even saw that video. You know what will happen in a few days."

"Ya, I know." Tails replied, letting himself sink into the serious conversation.

"And, are you okay with it?"

"No, of course not." Tails countered, a little insulted, "but what I'm not okay with is the fact you are already giving up."

"Tails, I never said I was giving up."

"You called me out here to have a talk Sally. You wouldn't have done that if you thought there was still a chance."

Sally sighed, looking down at the a few people as they walked along the dirt paths below. "I know Tails, but I'm also trying to be realistic. We can't develop a cure for this in time, and Dr. Robotnik doesn't have a cure for us to steal."

"That still doesn't mean you should give up. I've got a plan and…."

"A plan?" Sally asked, getting a curious tone in her voice. Tails mentally kicked himself, covering his mouth as he realized that he had said too much. If he tried to back down Sally would never let him out of her sight, he'd never be able to sneak away to Robotropolis. Still, at the same time, Tails wasn't sure he could tell exactly what he was planning.

"Tails…" Sally pressed, wanting to know what was going on.

"Okay, I have an idea, a plan. I… I talked to Uno and he told me a few things and I think we can at least stop the virus form advancing. It's kind… of… risky, but I didn't want to tell anyone because its something someone would have to do alone and…"

"Just what are you planning Tails?"

"Please don't make me tell you…" He asked, looking up at Sally pleadingly, "I promise, I'm being really careful but I don't want to put anybody else in danger. Sonic, Knuckles, they can all fight back against Robotnik but I really can't do much to help. This way, if… something should go wrong… the others can still lead the rebellion."

"Tails, you are a big help when we're fighting against Dr. Robotnik."

"But not as big as Sonic"

"Okay, but if it's dangerous…"

"Aunt Sally, please, I'm doing it for you. I don't want to see you go away, but the only way I can do anything to help is if you let me do this."

Sally glanced away from Tails for a moment, the wheels of her mind turning. She then looked back, eyeing him cautiously. "And you promise your being careful."

"Super Duper careful and Uno's helping me."

"All right," Sally said after taking in a deep breath, "I won't ask. I've let Sonic run off on missions with less of a guarantee. Just, tell me when you leave and when you plan to be back at the latest, that way I know whether or not I should be worrying."

"Deal," Tails replied, nodding his head, "And you don't have to worry Sally. I'm going to be brave, just like Sonic, and with Uno's help we'll stop the virus from advancing to the final stage."

"Well, I'm glad I'm in such capable hands." Sally said, smiling before her grin turned devilish. Before Tails could react Sally had snatched him up, both of them laughing as she tossed the two tailed fox high in he air and hen caught him. After acting silly for a little longer Sally let Tails head off to bed, smiling as he left her sight.

Kids Tails' age shouldn't have to worry about anything worse than school work, but even when put under the pressure Tails was rising up to the occasion. It had been a while, a few years at the least, since his parents had been captured and roboticized and Tails had risen to every challenge given to him. Admittedly, he always had someone with him for support, but the fact he was trying to be brave on his own.

Sally just couldn't help feeling proud. She was concerned for his safety, but at the same time it was like when Sonic was out on a mission. She was always worried for his safety, but somehow new that he'd be back. Maybe a little bruised and beaten, but he'd be back, smiling the cocky smile of his before giving her a thumbs up.

As was his strange ability, when ever Sally started thinking about Sonic the blue blur seemed to come rushing in. The familiar sound of him running through the village quickly reached Sally's ears, and by the time she turned her head Sonic was already half way up his access ramp, jumping and flipping before landing beside Sally.

"And he sticks the landing, the crowd going wild. Oh, is there anything that hedgehog can't do."

"You can't chew gum and break the sound barrier at the same time."

"Hey, that's because the gum's bubble can't handle my speed." Sonic defended, taking a seat next to Sally. "So, did you find Tails?"

"Ya, I just finished talking to him before you came running up."

"How is the little guy doing?"

"Good, he's keeping optimistic but also isn't trying to deny what's happening."

"And how are you doing?"

Sally shrugged; lifting one of her mutated, clawed hands as she slowly turned it over. "Guess I'm just trying to come to grips with what's happening. I mean, this isn't like being Roboticized. From the time we were able to free Charles, even for a little while, he told us that even if people are Roboticized they are still there, they just don't have any control of their bodies. This… this is different. From the way Dr. Robotnik's report is reading, if this virus progresses to the final stage I'm really going to be gone."

"Na…"

"What do you mean na?"

"You're too stubborn."

"Excuse me?"

Sonic smiled, the kind of grin that just made you believe that everything was going to be all right, no matter what has happening. "You're to smart and stubborn to let some virus destroy your mind. Sure, you may not be yourself for a while, but I know that you'll always be in there. And, even if you go mondo monstrous, I'm going to keep looking for a cure."

"Would you really Sonic?"

The blue hedgehog gently set his hand down on one of Sally's. "I don't let go of my friends without a fight, especially the ones as cool as you."

"Thank's Sonic. That really does make me feel better."

"No prob." Sonic replied, getting up and stretching. "Still, this hedgehog is beat. I'm heading to bed."

"Good night Sonic"

Sonic's smile shifted a little, going from comforting to devious. "What, no good night kiss?"

Sally arched an eyebrow, "Do you really want a good night kiss from this?" At that Sally opened her mouth a little, showing off her dangerous looking fangs. Sonic blinked a few times, and then gently turned before speeding off, shouting a last moment good night to Sally. The mutated princes just shook her head, chuckling to herself as she stood up and went back inside.

After talking to Sally and getting her permission to go ahead with his plan, Tails found his courage and conviction stronger then ever. He finished scouring the flower's circuitry, and didn't find anything above the basic operating systems. The robot plant was working like a normal plant, as if nothing had happened. Still, this knowledge concerned Tails a little bit, since having absolutely no programming might be a give away to the security system in Robotroplis. It was time to ask Uno a few more questions.

"Good Evening Tails, how are you?" Uno replied after Tails had gotten into Robotnik's network and started up a chat.

"I'm good Uno, and I found the data you told me about."

"Was it helpful?"

"It was, and the prototype I built is working just like the report said it would. I think that, after I verify a few things, I'm going to try and come tomorrow night. Is that all right?"

"I have not had a sense of time in a great while Tails. In the next moment or in an eternity, it makes little difference to me."

"Okay… I guess. But, I also have a few questions. The prototype works, but when I tested it on some flowers it didn't install anything. What kind of software is a level 9 maintenance droid expected to have."

"There is no standard template. To access any restricted area, however, robots need a Digital Access Key of the appropriate level."

"What does that do?"

"Security system for restricted areas is dependent on the digital access key. You not only have to have been assigned a key but your key must be registered with the proper systems to gain access."

"How am I supposed to get a key?"

"Normally, robots are given a key off the assembly line. Still, there used to be three level 9 maintenance droids. One was destroyed during a Freedom Fighter raid and its key has yet to be reclaimed. Key could be assigned to a new ID. This action should go unnoticed by system security. To pass key to a robot the said aforementioned robot would only have to connect to Robotropolis's network via a convenient data terminal."

"Great," Tails quickly typed back. "So, I'll contact you once I'm in the city. And, do you really have a way to stop the virus from advancing."

"Yes"

"You don't know how much I appreciate this Uno."

"I'm just glad I could be of help."

"Hey, since you're doing so much for me, is there anything you want in return?"

"Bring me something"

"What do you want?"

"A piece off the outside world, so that I may look upon it at least once."

"How about I bring you a picture of me and the other Freedom Fighters, so you can see everyone your helping?"

"That would bring me great joy, since it is the first chance I have had to give aid to someone else willingly."

"Uno, I have to admit, you talk weird."

"You would too after a while."

At that Uno shut of the line, leaving Tails to his own devices. After sleeping fairly well during the night Tails spent the rest of the day preparing for his trip. He stopped in to visit Sally only once, asking her to keep the others from worrying and to tell her he was going to leave at sunset, and if everything worked out he would be back by sunset the next day.

The final tests with the cannon worked as expected. He was able to turn the other two groups of flowers back to normal, but after waiting a few minutes past the twenty four hour mark he wasn't able to make the fourth and final group, the flowers he had taken back to his room, change back. They were permanently roboticized, proving that twenty four hours was the cut off limit.

Thus, with the sun starting to near the horizon, Tails secured the cannon on his back, using an old seatbelt clip to secure its strap across his chest. Earlier he had prepared the sandy buggy, stocking with it a few robotic components he had taken from the workshop. Still, even as he prepared to leave Sally caught him.

"Now, remember, you promised to be careful."

"Really careful," Tails replied, smiling for only a few moments before he jumped up and gave Sally a hug around the neck. The mutated princess returned the hug, smiling even though she was already worried about the young fox trying to find his way in Robotroplis alone. Still, she didn't try to stop him, and would actually be the one to keep the others from worrying. She would just tell them Tails wasn't feeling well, having eaten something bad at breakfast.

It was so strange to be heading out of the village alone. Usually, if he did go on missions, it was always with several of the others. Knuckles, Bunnie, Antoine, Rotor, Sonic; he'd always been with at least one of them. He couldn't deny it was a little scary leaving, but… he needed to do this. It was for Sally, and he wasn't going to let her down. It was his time to prove he could be a hero, just like Sonic and the others.

Tails was so lost in his thoughts he was kind of surprised when he reached the edge of the forest. Still, after uncovering the Sand Buggy he mounted the roboticizer cannon just to the right of the driver, making sure it was tightened down before he unfurled the Sand Buggy's sails and the late evening wind caught the fabric. Lurching forward the buggy began to race across the dunes, surging over them as it made its way to Robotropolis.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Tails felt his mouth go dry as he brought the buggy to a stop outside the city. He had come up on a blind spot in Robotropolis's defenses, a building blocking all permanent cameras and any passing Security Eyes from seeing a portion of the wastelands that separated the polluted city from the Great Forest.

After making sure the Sand Buggy was secure Tails moved over to the roboticizer cannon, adjusting it so it was aiming at a specific spot. Tails then set the timer, the digital clock slowly counting down from fifteen. Moving quickly, Tails positioned himself right in front of the cannon. He could see the dial getting closer to zero, and his desire to jump away kept increasing.

Still, through force of will Tails kept himself in place, rooting his feet to the ground until the cannon finally fired. The large sphere of energy smacked into Tails' chest, knocking the wind from his lungs and throwing him back. Tails blacked out for only a moment, not even feeling himself hit the ground. Then, slowly, he began to wake up. At first, it didn't feel seem like anything had happened. He still could see all the same, but after trying to move he began to sense the changes in his body.

After slowly getting to his feet Tails held out his hands, turning them over and looking at them. The once white gloved digits had burst out of his gloves, only shreds lying on the ground. In place of his hands were now two very dangerous looking metal claws, with a deep iron color and pristine shine.

He looked down at his feet, finding that his shoes had been integrated into his robotic design. Replaced with shining metal, his shoes looked pretty much the same but they were not literally a part of his body and, on the backs of his ankles were now a pair of wheels that he didn't quite know the purpose of.

After taking a quick examination of himself Tails moved over towards Robotroplis, feeling a little weird. He knew he was walking, his legs were moving and that his feet were kind of sinking into the sand, but he couldn't feel much else. He couldn't feel the wind, or even the growing chill in the air. All of his sense of touch was now focused into the joints of his now robotic body, the sensation coming from the resistance his moving parts felt when trying to operate.

Getting onto the metallic streets and hearing his own metal feet clanking, Tails eventually found an old window near a street light. Because it was dark inside the abandoned building the window acted partially as a mirror, allowing Tails to get a first real look at himself.

It was hard for the young fox not to let out a small yelp when he saw himself. The documentation for the Roboticizer Cannon had been right. He definitely had been turned into a modern generation of robot. His legs were solid techno-steel, very strong but also extremely light and durable. His knee joints were protected by silver knee caps, each sporting a dark grey spike. His chest had stayed the same size, but was now instead a smooth metal surface that had a deep orange color to it like most of his robotic body. The white tuff of fur on his chest was now replaced with what looked like an amplification core, a yellow color sphere in a low basin surrounded by a gray metal boarder.

His arms were made of the same material as his legs, but were considerably thicker after the elbow. Tails focused in on those parts, and was surprised when from his thicker forearm a door opened and a weak laser gun rose up. It was defiantly something that could come in handy later.

Tails next turned his attention to his defining characteristic. His two tails now looked much more menacing. Hinged half way down, the orange part of his tails was mostly like they had been when it was flesh and fur. Where his white tips had been, however, was now techno-steal that was covered in numerous small spikes. The spikes flowed in a line, along the top of his tail, from the end of the orange plating to the very tips of his tails.

After giving his Tails a tentative spin, and finding that they were able to operate in their usual helicopter like fashion, Tails looked right into his face, a little scared what he saw back. The overall build of his face was the same, only turned into metal. His eyes however were now turned down, formed into a perpetual menacing glare. The actual orbs of his eyes were a blue mesh of squares, looking like an insect's eyes. The final thing was the fact he didn't have a mouth, though when he tried to make a sound it seemed to come from the right area. Like there was a speaker hidden beneath the metal plating that made up his jaw.

(Note to Readers: Roboticized Tails was inspired by a picture by the talented Trakker on Deviant Art. To see the picture, click here).

Taking in the whole picture, Tails couldn't deny that he looked fairly scary and like he could be fairly dangerous. Still, when you're trying to sneak around Robotropolis, the more dangerous you looked the better. Still, after getting used to his appearance Tails turned his attention to the city itself, running across the street and into an alley as he began making his way to the nearest access terminal.

Even though he technically could have just hooked into the computer, Tails found it much easier to use the keyboard to contact Uno. The mysterious person on the other side of the screen replied quickly, his text appearing on the screen.

"Are you really in the city?"

"Ya, and I've all ready used the prototype. Now, I just need the software."

"Okay. All robots are designed with a data cable that can connect to any terminal in the city. Just plug it into the port on the left side of the screen."

Tails nodded, and after thinking about it for a second he felt something on his head open. After feeling around for a moment, he realized that a small cable had risen up out of his ear. Giving the cable a gentle pull, Tails was able to extend it, the cable having easily enough length to reach the port.

"All right, I just detected you on the network. Welcome to Robotropolis. Prepare for download and instillation of common software found useful to most residents."

At that a progress bar appeared on the screen, and Tails quivered a little. It kind of felt like he was getting something cold and gooey poured over him, but the sensation was moving through his insides instead of his exterior. Still, once the progress bar had completed the sensation disappeared and the cable automatically detached itself from the terminal, winding back up and disappearing into Tails' ear.

"You have been given a digital access key that identifies you as Level 9 Maintenance droid 1.5, between bots one and two. You've also been given the necessary software to properly aim and fire any weaponry you've been roboticized with as a new generation robot and also some software for your optical sensors."

"What kind of software?" Tails typed back curiously.

"Inferred Optics, Area Scanning software, Mechanical Analysis, GPS guidance, and radar. Each component can be operated as either an overlay for your entire visual area or as a miniature component that will float in the corner of your vision. To activate any of them and position them on screen, you must merely make the request to your system. Or, to put it simply. You must think about it.

Tails tried it a second, and if he still had lips he would have smiled. He was able to position the radar in the upper right hand corner of his vision, and it was easy to change between the different visions. He then turned back to the terminal, typing to Uno, "This is great, thanks."

"I've also programmed a destination into the GPS for your convince on your visit. If you're prompted at any doors for your digital access key, just start thinking about presenting the key to the system. The software will take care of the rest."

"Okay, see you soon Uno."

At that Tails moved away from the terminal, turning on his GPS vision software. It worked by basically overlaying a line on the ground, arrows flowing along it. Tails quickly began to run, following the digitally projected trail. Through winding alley ways and wide streets, Tails ran. He even caught sight of a few Security Eyes, but none of them even seemed to take notice of him. They just kept going, as if nothing was out of place.

It took a few hours of running to reach the citadel at the very center of Robotropolis, but Tails didn't feel the least bit tired. Still, that made sense. Robots really didn't get tired. Sure, they broke down on the odd occasion. Still, Tails knew he wouldn't be breaking down because of something wearing out. He was made up of what was Dr. Robotnik's most advanced robot technology to date. He wouldn't break for years, unless of course someone purposefully damaged him.

Pushing these thoughts from his mind Tails came up to a small access door at the base of the citadel. He looked up at the towering structure, which seemed to stretch on forever. It was the highest point in the city, Dr. Robotnik ruling his metallic empire from the highest levels while rest of the structure acted as the hub for most of the city's utilities and other important functions.

A camera above the door focused in on Tails, and inside his head he heard a computerized voice promptly ask, "Present DAS."

Quickly figuring out what the door wanted, Tails thought about presenting his Digital Access Key. After taking a few moments the door's AI sent back a confirmation message and the door opened. Tails quickly stepped inside, continuing to follow the digital trail as he began to traverse the thick labyrinth of corridors that made up the citadel.

With the GPS guiding him Tails never got lost, but at the same time he didn't want to look out of place. After crossing paths with a SwatBot and being told to slow down, Tails walked the rest of the way. Finally, after traversing several floors and at least a mile of corridors, he GPS path stopped outside a lone metal door. The hallway looked like it had been deserted for a while, the floor covered in a heavy dust.

After presenting his Access Key to the door, Tails was able to step into the darkened room. Sensing someone's presence, the lights in the room slowly turned on, shifting from a weak dim to a good, strong intensity. The room was practically empty, and kind of small. Still, Tails eyes were quickly drawn to a huge mass of cables, wires, and numerous other electronic bits that just seemed to be hanging of the back wall in the room, taking up at least half the space.

After looking around the mass for a while, Tails was afraid he was in the wrong room. He quickly turned, seeing an access terminal next to the door. He logged on, starting up a chat session with Uno.

"Hey, Uno, are you sure you sent me to the right place. There doesn't seem to be anything in this room except wires."

"No, you're in the right place. Just give me a moment."

At that Tails heard the mass of wires behind him starting to shift. Whether by invisible cords or just some things built into the wires themselves a large mass of the wires began to pull back. Like curtains rising on the stage, the cables, wires, and everything else lifted back to reveal something at the very heart of the mess of wires.

Tails gasped when he saw what was there, taking a step back. It was a Mobian, a wolf guy that looked fairly young, about the age of Sally and Sonic. Still, it was really hard to say for sure. It was like he had been fused with the wires in the wall. It was not like being roboticized, where your body began metallic. It was like someone had surgically attacked each wire to his flesh.

His feet were either gone or completely hidden beneath the mess of wires that sprouted from his waist. He mess of wires continued to sprout from his back, arms, wrists, hands, the back of his neck, and all across his head. Tails took a tentative step forward, and as his foot hit the ground and made a metallic clank the wolf figure looked up, the expression in his eyes very tired.

"Is that you Tails?" The wolf asked, blinking.

"Uno, is that really…"

"Yes, I am system entity 0000000000000000001. The one you've been calling Uno."

"What… what happened to you?"

"If you're referring to my current condition, I don't know.. To my knowledge I am as I have always been; a part of the system."

Tails shook his head in disbelief. This was something he hadn't expected out of Dr. Robotnik, to actually graft technology to someone's flesh was not only very difficult but very painful to the subject. In comparison, the pain experienced when being put through the original chamber Roboticizer was a walk in the park compared to hooking computer systems to individual nerves in the body.

"Well, I imagine you'd like to have your partial cure." Uno said, coughing a little bit. "To access viruses have a direct digital transmitter set near the subject. System should detect a network called L.V.O.N, the Lystric Viral Operating Network. While DNA for mutation is natural, viral delivery system is actually nano-bots."

"So, they're machines."

"Yes, tiny robots. And, in such, their operational code can be changed. To access network you simply need to enter the prompted password, which is the ID code used on the project. Once you have access network search for the processing code files and, in those files, the variable array that is tied to the time for the progression of stages. Change fourth number to a negative one to set the system so it will never progress pass the fourth level. Then initialize a system code recompile and reboot, which will instate the new values. Thus, placing the virus into an infinite system loop and preventing it advancing."

Tails nodded, and if he had lips would have smiled. It was so simple. If they had known the virus was a collection of nano-bots he and Rotor might have even figured it out. Still, because it was affecting Sally naturally they didn't think that it could still be machinery causing the changes.

"You don't know how much this means Uno."

"I am just glad I could help. Now, can I see the picture?"

Tails nodded, reaching down into his shoe. It took a little digging, the picture having gotten pinched between a few of his joints, but he eventually got it out. He tried to hand it to Uno, but the wolf couldn't even move his arms, the limbs suspended by the metal plated coils of wire.

"Here," Tails said, shifting the picture so he was holding it right up where Uno could see it.

Uno then stared at it for a while, a small smile blossoming onto his tired face. "You all certainly look happy."

"Ya," Tails replied, quickly starting to point at the picture. "That's me there. That Rotor, Knuckles, Bunnie, Sally, everyone that really helping us fight back against Dr. Robotnik."

"Who is the blue fellow?"

"Oh, that's Sonic."

"The blue blur himself."

"You know about Sonic."

"Everyone in Robotropolis does. Any constructed robots know to shoot him on sight, and any roboticized Mobians offer their appreciation to him. I only know of this because of the fact I'm the center of the system."

"The center?" Tails echoed, a little confused how a living Mobian could be the center of a robotic system.

"Dr. Robotnik gloated in front of me about that very same question, because I was unable to realize just what I was to his empire. To me, all I seem to do is hang here from these wires every moment of every day and yet at the same time I knew everything going on outside these walls, even possessing a small bit of control over the system. I couldn't figure it out until the doctor told me exactly what purpose I serve. I am Robotropolis's CPU."

Uno took a breath at this, continuing his explanation. "Robotropolis is a very advanced system, with information traveling across huge networks. Every computer and robot has their own CPU, but coordinating all those efforts takes a computer of even greater capacity. He is using my mind, my body, as a CPU to operate the citadel and the system that govern the rest of the city."

"So if you were taken out the citadel would stop functioning?" Tails replied, putting the photograph he had brought back into the little space in his metallic feet/shoes.

"No," Uno replied, shaking his head only a few times. "Dr. Robotnik has a back of CPU bay, a room four times as big as this filled with processors. The electrical draw on such a room is monstrous. That is the benefit of a living brain, it is more efficient and more powerful then even all those processors put together. He needs only to pump raw nutrients into me, and I keep all of Robotropolis running."

Tails held his chin, his mind turning over a few thoughts that were starting to congeal together into an idea. "Then couldn't you just shut everything down?"

"You misunderstand my situation. I am no willing participant in this. I know everything that goes on, but because of the way I'm wired into the system I have very little actual power. Everything moves through me, but I cannot change any of the commands. A slave not only to the doctor but to every robot in his system."

Tails could only stare at Uno, who had lowered his head. This was defiantly not what he had been expecting to find. Sure, a roboticized Mobian or even a new AI program that had decided to go against Dr. Robotnik. But… not this. At the moment he could have said good-bye. Uno had given him the partial cure and he had shown the wired wolf the picture of Knothole. There deal was complete. Still, just leaving didn't seem right either.

Before Tails could make any real decision Uno suddenly looked up, a very concerned look on his face. "You must leave."

"What?"

"Core, the city's operating system and Dr. Robotnik's aid. He has alerted the doctor that someone has access this room. They are on their way down. You must leave before you are found."

"Are you sure?"

"Our deal has been honored. You have no reason to stay and every reason to leave. I should not have to explain this."

Tails nodded, and quickly ran out of the room, the door allowing him to leave without using his access key. After glancing around the hallway Tails quickly ran down the way he had come, but instead of just continuing on he stopped once he had rounded the corner. Pressing himself up against the wall he just barely peaked around the corner.

After a few moments Dr. Robotnik came into view at the far end of the hall, the diabolic dictator carrying a heavy frown as he walked, a computer monitor floating beside him. The pair turned and entered the room where Uno was stored, and after waiting a few moments to make sure they weren't coming back out Tails quickly ran up and got within three feet of the door, close enough he could hear what was going on inside.

"Come out of hiding you miserable piece of trash."

"What can I do for you Dr. Robotnik?" Uno replied a few moments later.

"Core reports someone used level 9 maintenance access to enter his room. Who was in here?"

"On of the repair droids."

"Impossible," Core replied, "No maintenance droid is scheduled to inspect this room for over two months."

"Now, you know better then to lie to me. Or, do I need to teach you some respect again."

"No, please, Dr. Robotnik."

"Then start talking"

"I do not know why the door opened or closed. For when it did no one entered the room. I swear."

"Core, if you would?"

"Yes Dr. Robotnik."

At that the sound electricity surging began to enter the hall, mixed heavily with Uno's screams. After a few moments of this both sounds stopped, and in the following silence Tails could hear Dr. Robotnik walking. His voice then came through the door, very dark and menacing.

"Now, who was in here?"

"I swear… I swear on the system that employs me, the nutrients that feed me, and what parts of me are still my own that no one has entered this room."

"Core…" Dr. Robotnik echoed again, his command soon to be followed by another batch of screams. This went on for five minutes and finally after saying the same story every time Dr. Robotnik seemed to believe that Uno was telling the truth. Tails was just able to get back to his hiding place around the corner at the far end of the hall when Dr. Robotnik reemerged, walking in the direction he had come from with Core's computer monitor following in his wake.

In a moment Tails made a decision that would be something Sally would frown on, but Sonic would be proud of. While the door to the room was still open Tails used the strange wheels on the back of his feet to quickly and silently skate back up the hall behind Robotnik, make a sharp turn, and jump into the room before the door could shut itself. It was a daredevil move, but after pausing and ensuring Dr. Robotnik had tried to come back Tails relaxed. If he still had a heart at this point, it would have been going a hundred miles per hour.

"Uno, are you all right?"

"TAILS!" The wired wolf half shouted, his head snapping up quickly as a fearful look filled his eyes. "What are you doing here? Dr. Robotnik… he…"

"It's all right Uno. I snuck in while the door was still open. I didn't have to use my access key. To the system, it will look like Dr. Robotnik was the last person to come into this room."

"But why… why would you come back and risk discovery by the doctor?"

"Because I can't just leave now that I know you're here and the way Dr. Robotnik tortures you. I am getting you out of Robotropolis and back to Knothole."

"No, I will not allow it. You would be putting yourself in far too great of risk. I know nothing of the outside world, in my memories I have always been as I am now. This torture you speak of is just a part of life to me. You, on the other hand, know the taste of freedom, and in such enslavement by the doctor would be of greater torture to you. I will not allow it."

"Who said I was asking your permission?" Tails countered, "Still, if you're really that concerned about me getting caught, then you should help me."

"Tails, if you do not leave Robotropolis right now I will alert security and you will have no choice but to flee."

"No, I could then easily choose just to surrender myself. Either we leave Robotropolis together or you'll call security and I'll be captured. It's your decision."

Uno stared blankly at Tails for a time, taking in a deep breath as if he was going to say something. He then, however, juts let the breath slip out, hanging his head. ". I can see there is no way for me to win this argument."

"Great, now tell me how I can get you out of here."

"Dr. Robotnik has never moved me outside of this room. I was originally the CPU for his attack ship when he first began to assault the planet. Those are my very first memories. Then, when he began to create Robotropolis out of the previous Mobian city he constructed the citadel and moved this room, with me in it, and just dropped it into place like a building block."

"So the only way I can get you out is to manually detach you."

"I'm not sure if I even can be detached from this room."

"Where are your original schematics stored?"

"They aren't on the system. Dr. Robotnik keeps all those sensitive documents in his bedroom, locked in a wall mounted safe hidden behind a rather nice painting of a sunset over Robotropolis. Still, no robot is allowed to access Dr. Robotnik's room, his door being blocked by a level 10 security clearance that only the doctor, as the ruler of this metallic city, possesses."

"On top of that," Uno continued, attempting one final time to just get Tails to leave. "You don't have time to be worrying about this, or have you forgotten that you must deroboticize yourself."

"I'm doing this Uno, even if I have to go and get the cannon so I can change myself back into a normal Mobian just long enough I can then get a fresh twenty four hours, but there's more chance that Dr. Robotnik will notice a free robot running around his city if I have to run all the way to the boarder and back."

"You are proving to be very manipulative."

"I'm not trying to manipulate you Uno, I'm trying to help you, but to do that I need you to stop fighting me and just agree to help yourself."

"Very well. There is something that will increase the time span you have before the roboticization will become permanent. There is a terminal over there on the wall. Search the system for EMSD."

Tails nodded, quickly activating the terminal and typing in the search. Since the terminal was so deep in Robotnik's systems, the security on it was minimal to none. The file quickly came up, showing a small square item with a very simple overall design.

"That is the Electro-Magnetic System Destabilizer. From my understanding of the roboticizer cannon's technology this should destabilize the biological-metal conversion so that it doesn't become set and stable, but I wouldn't be able to tell you for how long until you have one."

"I saw a broken robot a ways down the tunnel, a janitor that slipped down some stairs and broke himself. I bet I can salvage the necessary components from him." Still, before leaving Tails quickly began to type on the terminal's keyboard, a few screens flashing before he hit the enter key.

"What did you just do?"

"I hacked the door and rigged it. Now, whenever someone says a key word the door will open and it will not broadcast a notice to any other part of the system. It will just open. That way, old Robutnik won't know I'm here, even if I have to come back through this door. Now, hold tight, I'll be right back."

In Knothole, the sun was just starting to come up. Sally groaned, staring up at the ceiling of her bedroom as she had done most of the night. She had covered for Tails already, telling everyone that he wasn't feeling well. Bunnie and Sonic wanted to visit him, but Sally stopped them by saying Tails was probably already asleep. Still, while she was able to hide it when around the others, in private Sally was worried sick.

Maybe she shouldn't have let him go. Maybe she should have made Tails tell her the details of his plan, so she knew just what kind of risk he was putting himself in. Maybe she should have made Sonic go instead, the blue hedgehog an experienced veteran of completing missions on his own. Still, while she wished she had done something else, Sally also knew that she was lucky she knew anything at all.

It was hard to just up and trust Tails. Sure, he was a responsible and smart, but… he was still just a kid. At the same time, this wasn't like any other mission. They always did things at night, when it was easiest to slip by Dr. Robotnik's security. Tails was spending almost twenty four hours in Robotropolis, which meant he'd be there during the day. Sally didn't know how he intended to get through security, and it only made her concerns worse.

Still, even as the mutated princess lay there, trying one final time to get even a few minutes of sleep she heard something. It was Nicole, the palm sized computer making a peculiar sound that she had never heard before. Turning onto one side and reaching out, Sally gently opened Nicole's lid. Once the lid was open, and with no warning, a voice began to come out of the computer speakers.

"Sally, are you there?"

"Tails!" Sally replied, sitting up quickly held the palm sized computer in the palm of her hand. "How did you?"

"I'm routing an encrypted sound signal through our bypass circuits. The security system will just think its text being sent to some terminal screen."

"Are you okay? Did something happen?"

"No, everything's fine. It's just… well, my mission's gotten more complicated."

"What do you mean?"

"I found Uno, and he told me how we can stop the virus from advancing. Still, I can't leave Uno here. He's alive Sally, he's a Mobian that Dr. Robotnik has hard wired into his system."

"You mean Roboticized."

"No, Dr. Robotnik connected Uno to the system security by hand, hooking the wires into his nervous system. He's been using Uno as a CPU, first in his airship w and then as the processor core for the entire city. Uno doesn't even remember ever being outside this room, and I've seen what Dr. Robotnik does if he thinks Uno is lying or trying to defy him in any way. I just can't leave him here."

"So, you're saying you'll need more time."

"I know I promised to be back by tonight, but I have to help Uno escape. Besides, because he's been Robotnik's CPU, he knows everything about Robotropolis. He even knows the Roboticizer operating software by heart. With his help, we could really start hitting Dr. Robutnik where it hurts."

"Just don't get yourself in too deep Tails, and if you need help don't be afraid to ask. We'll come as fast as we can."

"I know Aunt Sally, and I promise to send you updates as often as I can."

"I'll keep Nicole with me and tell her to alert me when she's received a message. Just be careful."

"I will"

"Okay"

"I have to go now Aunt Sally."

"Good luck Tails" Sally replied before the connection went dead. She held Nicole for a time, gently shutting the lid. She could only smile. Sure, she was still worried that something would happen to Tails, but at the same time she could have been prouder. He was doing the right thing, helping Uno, and that thought alone eased Sally's mind enough she was able to doze off, getting a least some sleep before she'd have to start the day."

Tails shut down the digital connection, pulling out the connector cable and letting it retract into his ear. He then turned back, looking at Uno was hanging by the wires in the room, sleeping silently. It was now morning and Tails had worked all night to finish the EMSD. The small device now hung off Tails' like a necklace, the small component broadcasting a blanket of destabilizing electro-magnetism. Thanks to some testing software he found on the network, Tails new that the destabilizer had nearly doubled the amount of time he had. Now, he had until tomorrow to turn himself back to normal, the roboticizer's effects becoming permanent when the last traces of the sun disappeared behind the horizon.

Not wanting to wake up Uno, Tails quickly typed something on the computer terminal. From the system data, Dr. Robotnik was still asleep in bed. If he wanted to get into the doctor's bedroom and get to that vault, he'd have to sneak when Dr. Robotnik left. Using his GPS software Tails put his destination to be Dr. Robotnik's door and quickly began to make his way through the citadel.

He passed a few SwatBots, but none of them seemed to take noticed of the advanced looking, two tailed robot that was running past them. Tails even took an elevator up to the top level with a group of SwatBots. They all stood perfectly silent, but Tails didn't mind because it would been rather weird if the robots actually started having frank conversations with each other.

After reaching the right floor Tails ran out, stopping at the end of the hall before peaking around the corner. The hall was empty, but Tails could hear the sound of something moving. After listening for a few moments he realized it was water, and guessed that Dr. Robotnik must have been showering. The thought of the fat, evil dictator showering disgusted Tails to no end, and the fox was glad he didn't have a real stomach because he might have thrown up.

So, knowing Dr. Robotnik would be coming out soon Tails tried to find the perfect place to hide so that after Dr. Robotnik had left his room he could slip inside. It took a little searching, but Tails eventually found a place. Using his tails to lift himself up to the roof, Tails grabbed onto a pipe right above Dr. Robotnik's door and hung there, watching and waiting.

After about ten minutes the door swung open. Dr. Robotnik slowly stepping out in his usual attire of red and black. The overweight, red mustached dictator quickly turned, lumbering down the hall. Reacting quickly, and while the door was still open, Tails swung himself down, spinning his tails just a little to give himself a push forward and to slip through before the door sealed itself.

After quickly freezing and looking back at the door, making sure Dr. Robotnik didn't hear anything or come back to his room, Tails began to relax and explore the room. The room was fairly impressive, a large space decorated with numerous portraits and sculptures of the doctor. All the furniture was made of metal, the one chair in the room having black seat cushions while the bed was covered in black sheets and blanket. The only other things in the room was a door that Tails assumed led to Dr. Robotnik's bathroom. After search through the numerous paints on the walls Tails quickly spotted the one that bore the image of a green, ghastly sunset over Robotropolis, and quickly moved over to it. After gently pulling at one side of the frame, Tails found it swung open on hinges, revealing a small wall safe.

This was when Tails hit his first snag. He didn't have the combination to the lock, and on top of that he was surprised to find that the lock was an old, mechanical combination lock. That way, it couldn't be hacked. After standing there, tapping his foot as he concentrated, Tails snapped his fingers.

Turning on one of his special eye visions, he was able to analyze the safe. At first it was just basic information, like the fact that it was a combination lock safe that required a three numeral combination to be entered correctly. Still, as Tails continued to stare at it his special eye sight shifted and actually began to look inside the machine, analyzing the tumblers and other components.

With the special vision still activated Tails walked up to the safe, placing his hand on the combination lock as he began to spin it. First two spins to the right before stopping, then a full turn to the left before stopping, and then a turn to the right. Carefully lining up all the tumblers, Tails smiled when he finished and, upon pushing down on the safe's locking lever, seeing the mechanical components working and the safe becoming unlocked.

Tails turned his vision back to normal as he opened the safe, finding three paper binds stored carefully inside. He grabbed one that was labeled "Roboticizer", holding it in his hands before gently opening it. It was full schematic plans for the roboticizer, all of Dr. Robotnik's hand written notes with each page protected in a plastic sleeve.

Tails put that notebook back, and then pulled out the second one. This notebook was labeled "Core" and Tails thought it would be referring to Uno. Instead, however, it was a physical copy of Core's programming coding. Every line of code that made the city's operating system work was laid out carefully, labeled. There were even notes, pointing out certain program back doors that were designed in so that, in case Core started to act up, Dr. Robotnik would be able to get in and fix something.

Tails put that notebook back, and then grabbed the last one which wasn't labeled. He opened it, and at the top of the first page found a title that read, "Cybronic Central Processing Unit." Followed beneath it were Dr. Robotnik's notes, basically describing his research into how a living mind could be used as the processing core to a very advanced computerized network.

For most of the pages it was Dr. Robotnik's notes on the subject, his theories and small tests he had done to prove them. The last few pages, however, were different. They were written later, and they weren't research notes. It was schematics and other such things. Tails slowed down, studying the diagrams carefully. They showed how the computer system wires were integrated with a biological nervous system. In essence, it was the design plans that Dr. Robotnik had followed when he constructed Uno. This was the information Tails needed. With this, he would be able to identify the best way to remove Uno from the system and, at the same time, he could use the other binder to trick Core into thinking Uno was still hooked up when, instead, it was the CPU core backups that were operating the city's systems.

Still, after all the design schematics there was one final page. It didn't look like any more technical research, but just a hand written page. Curious, Tails began to read, his cybernetic eyes flowing over each line.

Dr. Robotnic's hand written note

After years of planning, of preparations, I feared that my quest to take over this pathetic planet had become undone. All I needed was one final component, a young subject that I could turn into my Cybronic CPU. It is essential not only for the flag ship, but for the city I plan to create. A normal set of CPU's would require too much energy, and in such I need the simple but efficient system I have developed. I need my CCPU.

Yet, it seems that I fate or some divine figure has delivered to me my final component. If these foolish Mobians only knew my plans, maybe they would not be so quick to turn over the child to me. Or, maybe if that old wolf lab assistant of mine who got himself killed in a rock slide had been a better judge of character, he would have not of named me the godfather of his one and only child.

Still, I will not turn down this very fortunate turn of events. The child is young, barely four years old. Still, as I have found in my research the younger a person is the more likely they will be able to adept to the procedure and survive it, to become a living CPU. I could not risk simply snatching a child because, until I'm ready to make my move, I must ensure that these Mobians do not suspect a thing. My strike must come as an utter surprise, so they may fall that much easier.

The process will be long, slow, and admittedly painful. I have prepared a special injection that should dull some of the pain, but more importantly silence the child so that his screams won't draw someone's attentions. Even now that child looks at me, believing me a figure he can trust. He is as foolish as his father. They are all so foolish.

I will begin the procedure tomorrow, and to ensure the child does not rebel once I've integrated him into my flag ship I will seal away the memories of his previous life. Deleting actually memories from the mind is a very difficult task, but to lock them away is very simple. He shall know nothing of being a free Mobian, which in truth is the best kind of slave. One who has never tasted freedom will never yurn for it, and is much easier to control.

I write this so that, when this child has aged and is no longer of use to me, I might tell him the story of his life. To see the look on his face when he realizes how much I have taken from him, it almost warms this metallic heart of mine just thinking about it.

End of Notes

Tails almost dropped the binder at this point, utterly appalled. He knew Dr. Robotnik was evil, but this was a new low even for him. To take a four year old kid and turn him into a cybernetic computer processor and to lock away his memories. It was such a horrible thing that Tails couldn't even imagine it. Even Roboticized Mobians still had their memories, still knew who they were before they were made Robotnik's slaves. Uno… he truly had never known a life outside that room. An entire existence alone in the dark, with only hundred of cords protruding from his body as company.

Turning the page over, Tails saw that there was no more text on the back but tucked carefully in the back pocket of the binder was the corner of a picture. Tails gently pulled it out, holding the picture in the palm of his metallic hand. It was of two people, an older looking wolf with a very young one, both smiling widely. They were outside, with a fairly beautiful scene behind them. The older wolf was holding the younger up so he was in the camera's shot, while the younger was holding onto a flower.

Tails could only assume that it was a picture of Uno and his father. Tails was surprised to see that both of them were white wolves, their fur a very pristine white. Uno certainly didn't look like a white wolf, but then again Tails doubted Dr. Robotnik had ever bathed his living CPU so all the grease and grim over the years had turned Uno's fur white from a its current dirty grey.

After glancing back at the page Tails snapped the binder shut, taking it and the other two binders and placing them in the crook of his arm. He then shut the safe, relocked it and spun the combination dial so that it was reset. He then replaced the picture, and after poking his head out of Dr. Robotnik's room and making sure the hallway was clear he bolted out, making he way quickly back down to Uno.

The wolf was still asleep when Tails used his special keyword to entire. Wanting to let Uno get as much sleep as possible, Tails turned his attention to the terminal in the room. Using the green binder that described Core's operating code, Tails quickly hacked Robotropolis's operating system and began to prepare a new backdoor.

Uno made a small groan when he woke up a few hours later, when all the digital clocks were just a few minutes passed noon. Upon hearing Uno making noise the roboticized fox turned, his face frozen in its hateful glare but a very kind and welcoming tone to his voice. "Hey Uno, how did you sleep?"

"As well as I always do. I guess this means you were able to get into Robotnik's room."

Tails nodded, "Yep, I got these three binders from his safe. The green one is Core's operation code. Because of it, I've been able to program a back door into the system so when I try to detach you from the system, it will start taking the workload over to the other CPU room without alerting Dr. Robotnik anything is happening."

"What's in the other two?"

"The black one has the Roboticizer schematics and research notes. Sally is going to be really happy I got that. The blue is about you, or at least about how Dr. Robotnik turned you into a computer processor."

Uno nodded, looking at the binders. The pair were silent for a time, the only sound in the room coming as Tails typed on the terminal's keyboard, finishing off the last modifications to Core's operation code. Still, after a short silence Uno spoke up, his voice so low and weak that Tails could barely hear him.

"Why are you doing all of this?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you putting yourself in harms way for me, or even for Sally. You walked right in Robotropolis, used dangerous experimental technology on yourself, and risked being captured just to get a cure for her. Why would you do all that?"

Tails stopped, turning away from the terminal. "I did it because I care about Sally. When my parents were roboticized she and the other freedom fighters took me in. They protected me from danger. They're my friends and my family. I'm doing this to help them because I know, if I was the one in trouble, they would do whatever they could to help me."

"Then why are you trying to help me? You haven't even known me for a week, and yet you're risking so much."

"Because you took the same kind of risks to help Sally. You told us where to find the weapon information, and even told me how to partially cure her of the viruses. What do you think Dr. Robotnik would do if he found out you'd been helping the freedom fighters."

"I'd rather not," Uno replied, a pained expression crossing his face as he remembered a number of times Dr. Robotnik had punished him for something, even if it was never really his fault.

"Besides that, pulling you out of Robotnik's system will make him blow a gasket." Tails added, a bit of a chipper tone in his voice as he hit a few final keys on the access terminal and then turned away. "All right, everything's ready in Robotnik's system. Now, I'm going to go steal some tools from the maintenance closet I saw down the hallway. Once I have the tools, I'll get to work getting you out of the system."

"Thank you Tails."

The roboticized fox just flashed Uno a thumbs up before turning and heading out the door, disappearing to fetch the tools he would need to separate Uno from the Robotropolis network and, in such, help him escape Dr. Robotnik's grasp.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

While the original thought of removing Uno from the system was simple enough, the actual task of doing it proved much more difficult. Dr. Robotnik's hand written notes had been Uno's original design, but it quickly became evident that as Robotropolis was expanded so was Uno's integration into the system. The wires coming out of Uno had been spliced and striped, branched and twisted so that there was a 5 to 1 ratio of wires coming out of the walls and wires that actually connected to Uno's nervous system. It was going to take a lot of work to straighten things out, to even get Uno back down to his original design.

The only consolation was that because he was roboticized at the time, Tails was able to work constantly without getting a headache or tired. It was kind of cool being able to work so quickly and to use his mind to its full extent without wearing himself out. Much better then usual, when after chewing on a hard problem for a few hours he was either mentally exhausted or had some kind of headache

Even with his increase mental focus and stamina thanks to his roboticized brain, the process of disconnecting Uno took a lot of time. Tails worked the rest of the day, all through the night, and into the next day. Finally, just around twenty four hours after he had started, Tails took a step back. His once pristine metal skin was now married was grease and grime from the wires, but he had finished now it was time to see the results of his work.

No longer suspended from the ceilings and walls, Uno was sitting on an old metal crate Tails had found in the halls. By trimming away all the wires that had branched out, Uno was left with only the metal coils that had been placed directly in his skin by Dr. Robotnik. Even though this was a considerably large reduction, Uno still looked to be more machine then Mobian.

The largest and thickest collection of wires came directly out of the back of Uno's skull, the collection of varying sized wires kind of making it look like Uno had a very long, metallic hair. Tails wasn't able to cut the cables short because, upon inspecting Dr. Robotnik's designs, he saw that some of the coils had components in them that allowed the technology to work with Uno's body. If he had cut away the components, then Uno's organic body would start to try and expel the mechanical components, and without them Uno wouldn't be able to survive.

From the back of his head the line of wires flowed down his spine and then spread across his entire back, almost every square inch of skin having at least one or more wires hanging out of it. Tails had been able to cut most of these wires fairly short, but each still had a good six inches of length to them, forming a carpet of the metallic wires that covered Uno's entire back.

As to his arms, Tails was able to cut most of the wires on them to the same length as his back. The wires that came of Uno's arm flowed in straight line from the back of his shoulder to the top of his wrist. Most of these wires tended to lay backward, towards the shoulders. The only wires that seemed to defy this sprouted directly out of the back of Uno's hands, those wires bending forward and following the curve and length of Uno's fingers, appearing to be long dark claws.

The worst of it all, however, was below Uno's waist. Because of the fact Dr. Robotnik saw the heavy collection of nerves near the hips as a wealth of resources for wire planting he had actually removed Uno's legs. So, from the waist down the cybernetic wolf was nothing but the coils of wires and metal.

Still, in a true display of his young genius, Tails managed to make adjustments to the coils that sprouted from Uno's waist. Each coil of wires and metal was designed so the wires were protected on the inside of metal plated tube By cutting and reworking the metal plating at certain points, Tails was able to insert joints into the system that could be moved at Uno's discretion.

The effect of it was giving the huge mass of wires the ability to act like tentacles, to bend and twist in a wide rang of direction and motions. They actually even had more abilities then natural tentacles, since tails had designed in a position where the wires could twist around each other and form two sturdy and fully operation legs.

"All right Uno, give it a try."

The wolf, who had been silent for most of the procedure, glanced up at Tails before nodding his head. Slowly, as both of them watched, Uno was able to get the mass of wires that sprouted from his waste to slowly take shape. A few more minutes, and the wires had clung together tightly, forming two legs. They weren't very attractive, cut ends of the wires visible in several place. They also weren't very powerful, but they would defenantly work.

"All right, try to take a step." Tails suggested, taking a little demonstrative step with his own, roboticized leg. It took Uno a lot more concentration, but he was able to take the step, and with about half an hour of practice he was able to walk fairly well and even jog a little. He couldn't' run, that kind of strain to great on the wires, but he was definitely mobile.

"So, how does it feel to take your first steps?" Tails asked, particularly proud of his work.

"It's… I just don't know how to describe it. It's a level of control I've never had; to even be able to choose where I am is amazing. To even be able to be someplace other then a single spot is a marvel."

"Well, don't get to excited because we still need to get out of here. Sunset is in six hours, and if we walk it will take us four hours to reach the city limits of Robotropolis. Thus, we don't have to hurry but at the same time I want to get going in case something happen along the way."

"But, I can't go outside looking like this. Every robot in the city will quickly see I'm part flesh, and will either shoot to kill or alert Dr. Robotnik who will the realize I've escaped."

Tails just smiled, pointing over to the corner of the room. Resting there was the torn and ravaged heap of an old janitor robot that Tails had scrounge for necessary parts and pieces. While most of the components inside were gone the robots exterior was still intact.

Tentatively looking around the hallway, Tails stepped out of the door and then motioned back behind him. Uno followed, his body hidden inside the armor of the janitor robot. The armor covered most of Uno's flesh so that only his robotic parts were visible, but if you looked close you could still see patches of fur sticking out from the joint seems.

"Come on," Tails said, motioning as he began to move down the hall. Uno followed, but his motions were not only slow and clunky but the rattling of the hollow robot armor was fairly noisy. Tails looked back, starting to get very concerned. It would take someone pretty stupid to think Uno was a real robot, but hopefully the SwatBots were that dumb.

Still, not wanting to take chances, Tails always made sure the hallway was clear before they moved on. If there was a SwatBot or guard patrolling, Tails would quickly flop down on the ground and Uno would pretend to be the janitor-bot cleaning him up. The plan worked, and since the Citadel was mostly empty, the pair didn't have to worry about really hiding until they stepped out of citadel.

The sun was fairly bright that day, a high altitude wind blowing away some of the smog that usually hung over Robotropolis. As Tails feared, Robotropolis was bustling with traffic as it did almost every day. Roboticized Mobians and thousands of other robots all going about some task or duty while the SwatBots patrolled amongst them, watching for anything suspicious.

Tails glanced back at Uno, who was looking around the city in amazement. The white wolf wouldn't be able to blend in with this crowd, he made way to much noise when he walked and still wasn't that good at it. Still, if Tails had lips he would have smiled as he caught sight of something sitting in the distance. It was a hover dolly with an empty supply crate.

After snatching the crate and backing into the citadel, Tails reemerged pushing the hover dolly along, what appeared to the be the empty shell remains of a Janitor-bot resting inside the crate. "We'll blend right in with the crowd. Just keep still and stay quiet."

Uno drew his head out of the mess for only moment, nodding it once before drawing himself back down beneath the janitors armor. Then, after glancing around a bit Tails began just pushing the dolly along, trying to act like he was really doing something. He even began to use his Tails, flying near the ground and pulling the dolly along behind him was a much faster way of moving.

It didn't seem like any other robots were even noticing their presence, but it was hard to say because like Tails some robots didn't really let you see where they were focusing their vision. They just watched everything, and could easily decide to turn their attention to one odd look two tailed robot-fox pushing a stolen dolly.

Still, even with Uno's somewhat slap-dashed disguise, things seemed to be going fairly well. Thanks to the GPS software, Tails kept him and Uno on the right track. They took side streets as often as they could, avoiding SwatBot patrols and the such.

About two hours later, the pair was within a few blocks of the city boarders. Tails couldn't help but be a bit pleased with himself. Just a little while longer, and he would have pulled of his mission. Tails couldn't wait to get back to Knothole. Now it really was his turn to tell the others of his brilliant plan and how he had snuck in under Dr. Robotnik's nose, and not only gotten Uno out of the city but had also stolen the data binders.

It was then Tails froze, cursing to himself as he looked back. The binders. He had left the binders back in the citadel. Since Tails stopped so abruptly Uno poked his head out from the crate, titling his head to one side as he asked, "What's wrong?"

"I forget the binders I stole from Dr. Robotnik's room back in the citadel."

"Well, can you run back and get them?"

Tails shifted his attention, making a digital clock appear in his vision. He had roughly four hours before sunset. If he flew most of the way, he'd easy be able to get to the citadel and back. But if he did that he might draw unwanted attention. Debating back and forth for a moment, Tails made his decision and turned his attention to Uno.

"We'll find a place for you to hide that's close to the sand buggy. You can wait while I fly back and get the binders."

"Are you sure you want to fly back?"

"It's the only way I'd be sure to make it there and back before sunset."

"Are the binders that important?"

"I at least need to get the one with the roboticizer plans, and if I grab that one I might as well get the other two since one has information on Core and the other is the technical designs for your body."

"Then you'll need to stay below five stories. Any higher of the ground and you'll show up on Robotropolis's radar. Still, if you stay above four stories you should be able to avoid being noticed by any SwatBots on the ground. It's a thin corridor blind spot in the city's anti-air security measures."

Tails nodded, and after walking the final two blocks Tails found a place to hide Uno that was within ten fit of the city limits and two feet of an access terminal. Thus, after setting the crate containing Uno down on the ground Tails let go of the dolly, taking flight as he began to make his way back to the citadel.

As Uno suggested, Tails stayed between four and five stories off the ground, staying below the city's radar but above the level where the SwatBots would notice him zipping by. Thanks to his upgraded, the roboticized fox didn't even get winded flying with his tails so long and soon arrived back at the citadel. After running through the corridors again he reached Uno's room, snatching up the binders before running out. Seeing he had taken about fifty minutes to get there and get the notebooks, Tails would have smiled since everything seemed to be going off without a hitch.

Still, as Tails was thinking about this and running through the halls of the citadel he crashed into something. Quickly bouncing back and dropping all the binders, Tails groaned and looked up.

"Watch where you're going you little…"

The pair stared at each other for the time. It was Dr. Robotnik. Tails didn't know how or why the doctor was in the lower levels of the citadel, but there was no way he wouldn't recognize the evil dictator. Robotnik's own eyes focused in not only on Tails, but the binders he had dropped. It took a moment for the doctor to recognize the binders, but when he did his face started to turn red and a vein in his forehead began to swell.

"You thief, how did you get those binders?"

Tails, however, didn't reply as he quickly scooped up all three binders and slipped past Dr. Robotnik. The inventor quickly began to run after Tails, shouting as he took chase. "I order you to halt."

Tails however kept running, and Robotnik's anger increased. He shouted at the top of his lungs for Core, the city's operating system quickly replying, "Yes Dr. Robotnik".

"Who is that robot?"

"Can only access basic system data via short range communications. Name is Miles Tails Prower."

"A Freedom Fighter! But how did he get roboticized."

"Unknown sir"

"Initialize the suppression programming."

"I cannot sir. Wireless communications indicate he doesn't have suppression software installed."

"WHAT!?" Robotnik bellowed, lumbering around a corner as he continued to run after tails. Still, the doctor's weight began to catch up with him, the fat inventor starting to pant and slow down. Finally, he gave up trying to catch Tails himself, grumbling as his temper cooled and his logic returned.

"Core, initialize a code 101 alert. I don't know how, but that little roboticized freedom fighter has stolen the contents of my private vault. He cannot be allowed out of the city with that information. I don't care if you capture or destroy him or the data, but those binders are not to be allowed out of Robotropolis."

"Yes Dr. Robotnik, initializing 101 alert. Error… System Error."

"What is it now?"

"Cannot initialize a code 101 when system is operating on CPU backups."

"We aren't operating on CPU backups."

"System indicates that all robotropolis data is being processes by the backup CPU room."

"Core, get a Security Eye into the primary processor core and show me the video feed."

"Displaying feed now." Core replied before a floating monitor came into view, the screen showing the video feedback from a Security Eye. The eyeball quickly was allowed into the processor room, and as the video reached Dr. Robotnik his face visibly paled.

"Core, initialize a code triple zero lockdown. Nothing in or out of Robotropolis."

"Yes Dr. Robotnik."

"Alert all security drones, all army drones. I want the CCPU recaptured and I want that roboticized two tailed fox blown to pieces and my research binders returned at any cost."

"Yes Dr. Robotnik. Robotropolis is now entering code 0…0…0… lockdown."

"Princess Sally," Antoine shouted, running into the command center of the freedom fighters back in Knothole village.

"What is it Antoine?"

"It is Robotroplis, my princess. She is, as you say, going crazy. Our lookouts say that it looks like ze whole city has gone into a state of panic."

Sally frowned, her concern for Tails' growing. Hoping to find something out, Sally pulled out Nicole, holding the computer inn the palm of her mutated hands and quickly asking, "Nicole, please establish access with Robotropolis using Bypass circuit Epsilon5 and tell me what's happening."

"Cannot establish access with Robotropolis. Network and entire city is in code 000 lockdown."

"What is ze code 000?"

"It can't be good, that's for one thing. Remember that time Sonic stole Robotnik's new SwatBot plans so we could analyze them for schematic weak points."

"But of course, we barley got out of ze city with our lives." Antoine replied, his memories of that day not particularly fond.

"That was a code 101 lockdown. I can only imagine that a code triple zero is a lot worse."

"But this makes no sense. What could possibly be happening that ze doctor would put ze city into such a state of emergency."

Sally opened her mouth to reply, but before she could Nicole made a strange beeping noise. Sally turned back, a hologram screen appearing as a message appeared in front of Sally's eyes. She read it quickly, her eyes narrowing before she quickly shut Nicole and slipped the palm sized computer back into her makeshift vest.

"Antoine, where is Sonic, Knuckles, and Bunnie?"

"I believe I saw Knuckles sparring with Bunnie near ze river, and Sonic was playing his guitar and making a terrible racket on ze far side of ze bridge. Such a horrible instrument, I don't understand how he can enjoy that garbage."

Still, without saying another word to Antoine, Sally moved across the command center and onto the outer deck. She then leapt up, landing on the street below before running as fast as she possible could in the direction of the river. Antoine stood on the deck behind her, feeling rather confused as he asked to no one in particular. "Was it something I said?"

"Sal gal I can't believe you let little old Tails go to Robotropolis by himself." Bunnie scolded. The quartet was racing across the wastelands, Robotropolis growing larger on the horizon. Sonic had slowed it down a little, enough that the mutated Sally was able to keep up even when she was carrying Bunnie and Knuckles on her shoulders.

"He's not such a little kid anymore Bunnie." Sally countered, "Besides, it was one of those things that if didn't agree he would have done it anyway behind my back. How many times has Sonic run off to give Robotnik trouble when I asked him to stay in Knothole?"

"Hey, don't bring me into this."

"How about we quit arguing period and focus on helping Tails?" Knuckles shouted, his blunt logic quickly putting off the discussion until after Tails was safe. "Where are we even going? We don't know where Tails is in the city."

"Yes, but we know someone who does." At that the quartet reached the edge of the city, slipping by a heavy patrol of Swatbots and hover units. Sally took the lead at this point, guiding the group down an alley before making a turn and entering a small alley with a dead end. The alley was fairly empty and dirty, the only two things of significance in the place was a access terminal and an old metal create holding robot parts.

"What exactly are we looking for Sal?"

"We're looking for Uno." Sally said, her and everyone's else attention shifting to the metal crate as the contents began to shift. Pulling himself out from underneath the old janitor-bot armor, Uno groaned and look up at the freedom fighters.

"I didn't know if my message would get through. I had to use ten bypasses to get through the firewall."

"And who would this be darlin'?" Bunnie asked as Sally moved over and lifted Uno out of the crate, stetting him down on his tentacle formed legs.

"This is Uno. He's the one that told us where to find the data about Robotnik's weapon and the one that helped Tails make his plan. He's also the one that told me something had gone wrong."

"Well then what's the story? Where's Tails?"

"He was being perused by citadel security when I contacted you. I'd have to check again to get a current situation." With that Uno walked/stumbled over to the nearby access terminal. He began to type. Even though he had never worked from the user end of the computer, he still knew every command in the system. It was all a matter of getting it typed.

"Current status: Tails is being pursued by Dr. Robotnik and 100 of Robotropolis's security detail."

"Why is Robotnik using so many robots to try and catch Tails?"

"Besides freeing me from the citadel, he stole three research binders. One is for my metallic components, the second is a paper copy of the code for the city's operating system, Core. The third and final is the original plans and schematics for the roboticizer along with all the original research notes."

"How did Tails get a hold of all that or even get into the citadel?" Knuckles asked.

"He roboticized himself and…"

"HE WHAT!?" The four freedom fighters chimed in together.

"Start explaining, NOW!" Knuckles threatened, grabbing Uno by the neck and slamming him into a nearby wall.

Uno clawed at Knuckles hand, but do to his weak muscles he couldn't even get a grip on let alone try to pull the tightly clenched fingers off his neck. "He… roboticized himself to get into citadel. To talk to me about a partial cure for Sally. It's… ah… it's only ………. temporary."

"Temporary…" Knuckles echoed, loosing his grip and letting Uno breath again.

"Yes," Uno replied, coughing as air returned to his lungs. "Somewhere near here Tails has hidden a sand buggy and with it is a Roboticization Cannon. The device can roboticize a person in 1/20th of a second, a weaponized version of the chambers original concept. It is reversible, at least for a time. Tails can still become flesh and blood again, but only if we can hit him with a reversely polarized cannon blast by the end of sunset."

"Knuckles, Sonic, you two stay here and find the Sand Buggy. Bunnie and I will go and try and find Tails and help him escape from Dr. Robotnik. When we find Tails, we'll launch a flare. Sonic, once you find the cannon have Uno tell you how it works so that we can turn Tails back to normal."

"And what am I supposed to do?" Knuckles complained, not one to enjoy being left out of a fight.

"You need to get Uno and the Sand Buggy back to Knothole. Besides Tails you're the only one that really knows how to drive it."

"Fine," Knuckles grumbled, crossing his arms.

"I was tracking Tails trajectory. He is trying to avoid Dr. Robotnik but he is also trying to make his way back here. They should be in or near the boarder of Sector 23. Also, even though I'm off the network I still have some limited wireless capabilities. My channel number is 9328. "

Sally nodded, and after placing Bunnie back on her shoulders the mutated princess leapt up into the air, landing on a nearby building before jumping again. Knuckles grumbled, quickly looking around. "Great, while they go off to fight we're stuck here looking for the Sand Buggy."

"Don't worry Knuckles, with my speed we'll find it in no time." At that Sonic quickly burst into the sprint, running out of the small dead-end alley and into the sands. Knuckles soon followed, leaving Uno to slowly lower himself down onto the ground, exhausted from the stress and tension of the day.

Tails yelped, quickly bobbing and weaving as every type of security robot in the city chased after him, firing off a barrage of lasers. Zipping through the alleys and city streets, Tails tried to avoid the laser fire while, at the same time, keep making his way towards the edge of the city. He had already gotten hit once, part of the metal on his tails partially melted from a well aimed laser shot.

Even with the laser fire surrounding him Tail could only focus in on one thing, reaching the edge of the city. The sun was starting to get close to the horizon, the digital clock in his head showing that he only had maybe twenty minutes before the roboticization process would become irreversible.

Still, while Tails was distracted making some of these simple calculations, he felt a strong force hit him in the back and throw him off balance. He quickly began to fall towards the ground, and it was only a few last minute actions that kept him from crashing. He looked back, seeing that not only had the army of robots chasing after him increased but it was now being led by Dr. Robotnik, who was barking commands and orders from his hover platform.

Under Dr. Robotnik's commands, the attacks from the SwatBots and Air Security Drones became more focused and, with a second powerful hit, Tails went down. He crashed into the streets of Robotropolis, his metal body scrapping against the surface. Still, he held on tightly to the research binders, not letting them go even as he came to a stop.

SwatBots encircled him, but instead of firing they just kept their lasers pointed at the two tailed fox. Still, Tails didn't have time to wonder why they were holding back as a large robotic arm reached down from the sky, grabbing him up and pulling him off the street.

The robotic arm was attached to the bottom of Dr. Robotnik's hover pad, and it quickly lifted Tails up so that he was looking right into the anger stricken face of the good doctor himself.

"Well, I will say I'm impressed. I don't know how you became roboticized, but you used it to your advantage. Not only were you able to sneak into my city undetected, but you also managed to get into my room, steal my personal research binders, and help the CCPU escape. I must say I'm very impressed indeed."

"Still," Dr. Robotnik said, grabbing Tails by the head with his own robotic hand, starting to squeeze down on the metal. "Your game is over. You are going to tell me where the CCPU is, you are going to return my research, and then I'm going to install my suppression software on your systems so that you'll quietly obey me like every other robot in this city."

"However, not before I make you pay for your defiance." At that a surge of energy began to erupt from Dr. Robotnik's metallic arm, ripping through Tails skull. It was the first real pain he had ever experienced since he had been roboticized, and it was horrible. He screamed at the top of his lungs, his vision becoming like a jumbled TV signal. Even the sound coming from his speaker was getting distorted by the overload of energy, his cries of pain sounding truly robotic.

"Now, tell me how you became roboticized?" Robotnik demanded, stopping the flow of electricity for only a moment.

Tails head swum, his vision slowly readjusting itself from the overload of energy. He thought if he stayed silent then maybe Dr. Robotnik would think he had over done it, but that was not the case as the doctor sent another long serge of energy through Tails' head. After the second jolt Dr. Robotnik repeated the question, his eyes focused and demanding.

Looking into those eyes, Tails began to think of Sonic, Sally, and everyone else. He began to feel guilty, getting captured by Robotnik after he promised Sally he was going to be careful. If he really was being careful he wouldn't have been running through the citadel after retrieving the binders, so he would never have run into the chrome domed doctor.

Still, at the same time Tails began to think of Sonic. The blue blur and one of the biggest hero's of the rebellion against Dr. Robotnik. He never got himself caught like this, but… at the same time Tails knew that Sonic wouldn't have given into Robotnik, even in such a situation. It was then, with courage building up in his circuitry, Tails looked directly at Dr. Robotnik.

"No"

"Fine, then you have chosen your fate. I hope you enjoy having every part of your brain short circuited and melted to the point where you won't even be smart enough to be a toaster." At that Dr. Robotnik began to send more electricity through Tail's head, the two tailed fox screaming at the top of his lungs as the energy surged through his metallic mind.

Still, before Dr. Robotnik could really start to enjoy torturing the roboticized fox his hover platform jerked. Wondering what was going on, Dr. Robotnik turned quickly, only to be snatched up. Glaring coldly at him, a low growl escaping her throat was the mutated Sally. Sitting on her shoulder was Bunnie, the thick accented part-robot Mobian glaring just as coldly at the doctor.

"Well, if it isn't Sally Acorn. I would say it's nice to see you, but then I'd be lying."

"Doctor, I think y'all need to learn when stop making small talk." Bunnie suggested, sliding down from Sally's shoulder. She moved over to a control console on the hover platform, using the robotic arm controls to gently lower the roboticized Tails down onto the platform, the two tailed fox still holding onto the research binders for dear life.

"What… what happened?" Tails asked, his mind swimming as it tried to recover from being over-electrified.

"Just sit back and relax sugar, its all goin' to be fine."

"Wishful thinking, but Robotropolis is code 000. No one is leaving this city alive. Not you, not that puny fox, and especially not you, princess."

"And you fail to realize doctor that as long as we stay in such close proximity to you, your robots won't fire a shot."

"Sure they will, I just have to order them to."

"And get yourself killed in the process." Bunnie quickly added. Still, Dr. Robotnik was continuing to smile when he gently clicked his heals together. With no other warning rockets in his shoes ignited, allowing Dr. Robotnik to slip from Sally's grip and fly clear of his hover platform.

"Open Fire" Dr. Robotnik shouted, pointing at the hover platform. Responding quickly every SwatBot in the street below and flying security drone began to bombard the hover platform with laser fire. While the platform itself was laser resistant, the hover components on the bottom weren't and quickly exploded.

Without its hover components the platform began to fall, crashing into the street below and placing Sally, Bunnie, and Tails in the heart of Dr. Robotnik's forces.

"Ha, I found it." Knuckles shouted, pulling back the sand covered tarp that had hidden the buggy from view. Sonic quickly came to a stop near Knuckles, the pair gently removing the what was obviously the Roboticizer Cannon before running back to where Uno was hiding. The partially mechanical wolf had pulled himself up off the ground, checking something on the computer terminal.

"We have the cannon." Knuckles said, holding the cannon up with a smile. "Now, how does it work?"

Uno turned, lifting a hand as he pointed at each control. "Operation is simple. Pull trigger fire, but to turn Tails back to normal that black dial needs to be pointed down, towards the red negative symbol."

Sonic nodded, placing his hand on the dial and preparing to turn it downward. Still, before he could Uno lifted his hand, eyes moving off to one side.

"What's up?"

Uno's face fell into a frown, his eyes narrowing. "I just received an urgent message from Nicole on my wireless channel. Your friends are surrounded by an entire of legion of SwatBots and they are getting ready to fire. Dr. Robotnik's making a speech, saying how all their efforts were futile. I can hear it over my connection, but once he's done speaking he'll have every robot there open fire. There is no way they could survive."

"Where is the signal coming from?"

"Sector 23, quadrant 6, the main street in that area."

"I have to go help…" Sonic replied, getting ready to speed off when Uno grabbed his hand.

"Nicole is sending me data. There are over two hundred different robotic units in the area. You can't fight them all of, not before some of them could have killed your friends or injured you."

"Give me some credit Uno. I'm Sonic the Hedgehog."

"But I was apart of Robotnik's system, and all of his simulation software showed that if you got in a fight with more then 150 robots of varying types that the probability of your defeat entered the 80 range, and that is without you trying to protect someone else. You need an edge Sonic. Otherwise, you'll be walking into a death trap."

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Knuckles asked, half shouting in aggravation.

"And finally," Dr. Robotnik said, still floating above the others as he began to finish his dramatic speech, which in all honesty he had practiced for the day when he could finally take down the freedom fighters. "To you, Princess Sally, you're just like your father. Foolish enough to think he could defy me."

"You cold hearted beast." Sally barked, her voice flaring with a growl.

"Why, thank you, but flattery will not save you Sally. Still, I am a generous man. All of your deaths will be quick and relatively painless. Now, SwatBots, take aim. Ready……. Fi…"

At that moment a sonic boom ripped through the city, cutting of Robotnik's command. The doctor turned himself around in the air, smiling as he saw something running towards them down the street. "Well, it looks like I'm going to be getting rid of four rodents today. All units, points lasers down the street and open fire. Kill Sonic the Hedgehog."

The robots followed their orders, and sound a huge volley of laser fire was ripping down the street towards Sonic, which was still a fair distance away. Still, as Dr. Robotnik watched he began to notice something. The lasers were missing, even ones that looked like they should have hit seemed to be veering off course at the last moment. That, and Sonic seemed to be moving faster then ever.

"Core, what is the hedgehog's current speed?"

"Satellites are tracking him at 1737.24 miles per hour."

"Kill him you fools, KILL HIM!" He bellowed, eyes starting to burn with rage as he looked back at Sonic, who continued to draw closer. Still, Sonic kept coming and, before Dr. Robotnik could shout another order Sonic plowed through the thick squad of SwatBots, cutting through them like tissue paper. He passed over the center, slicing through the robots on the other side before starting to grind, destroying every bot in his path as he started at the outer edge of the group and spiraled down to the center.

In the course of a few short seconds all the SwatBots had been destroyed, their crumpled heaps throwing a thick screen of smoke up into the air. Dr. Robotnik yelled at his air units, having them all gather at the far end of the street, cutting of Sonic's escape as they waited for the smoke to clear.

Then, just as the smoke began to fad, Dr. Robotnik caught a glimpse of Sonic. He was standing on one of the heaps, looking straight in Dr. Robotnik's direction. The mere connection of their eyes and Dr. Robotnik felt his blood run cold, the doctor moving backwards instinctively. The smoke cleared a little further, confirming the doctor's fears. What ever that little fox had used to turn himself into a free willed robot, Sonic had done the same.

Standing in place of the annoying blue blur was a roboticized version of the hero. Just as with Tails, the overall design of Sonic's body gave off a very dangerous atmosphere. The spikes on his extended a great distance back, his digital eyes turned down in a permanent deathly glare. Claws instead of hands, and an overall menacing look betrayed the fact that he was still the same blue hedgehog on the inside.

(Note to Readers: I know from the Sonic Franchises that there are a lot of different versions of Metal Sonic. Since this is a short appearance, you can use which ever one you're most familiar with. Still, if this author could point out a specific design, then it would be the Neo Metal Sonic featured in the Sonic Heroes game.

If you don't know what he looks like, here is a reference image. thepokemontrainer./art/Neo-Metal-Sonic-94369137

Now, back to the story, and sorry for the interruption.)

The pair glared at each other for a long time, but after a while Dr. Robotnik decided to try his hand, ordering all his flying units to destroy Sonic. Still, as soon as he had given the order Sonic disappeared, a sonic boom cutting the air before all of the air units exploded in a domino effect. Sonic then reappeared, tapping his foot as he crossed his arms and looked at Dr. Robotnik.

The doctor looked around for a long time, and after growling for a moment he shouted at the top of his voice, "Retreat!" All remaining units, how few there were, began quickly clearing out as Dr. Robotnik flew off towards the citadel using his own rocket boots. Sonic, if he had lips, would have smiled. Still the triumphant was cut short as Sonic glanced over at the horizon. The sun was about to finish setting, and he had one more thing he had to do.

After quickly checking on Bunnie and Sally the roboticized blue blur took cannon, which had been secured to his back by a magnetic force, switched the polarization dial, and fired it at Tails. Tails was enveloped in a burst of light, but when it dissipated the young fox was a normal Mobian again, passed out on the ground and yet still holding onto the binders for dear life.

"Don't worry, he's still breathing." Bunnie said, gently picking up Tails in her arms. "Poor fella, doing all this by himself has left him plum tuckered out."

Sonic nodded, passing the Roboticizer Cannon to Sally. "Ya, you'd guys should get him back to Knothole. Knuckles is waiting with Uno on the edge of the city. Meet up with them before heading back."

"And just what are you going to do Sonic the Hedgehog?" Sally asked in her usual concerned tone.

The blue blur gently lifted one of his metallic hands, fingers closing into a fist. "Well, I just thought I'd do a little bit of house cleaning. After all, Dr. Robotnik's on the run and there are several buildings in this city we've been meaning to target. Besides, why not have a little fun at the doctor's expense."

Sally shook her head, "Fine, but if you want to break things go after the assembly factories and the power stations. Hit as many as you want, but you'd better be back in Knothole by midnight."

Sonic just nodded, the roboticized blue blur surging off, the wind he kicked up nearly blowing Sally over. Still, as Sonic went to cause havoc for Dr. Robotnik, Sally picked up Bunnie and Tails, running off towards the edge of the city. After meeting up with Knuckles, who had already prepared the sand buggy, they got Uno loaded up. Just as they were leaving an explosion erupted from a nearby part of the city, a power station going up in flames. It would be one of the many explosions to rip through Robotropolis that evening.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The wind seemed to have turned its direction, the cool air gently brushing against Sally as she stood on the edge of the Great Forest, arms crossed as she look off into the distance. Lighting up the horizon and sky with a mixture of golden reds and oranges, Robotropolis was ablaze. Every few minutes, a fresh explosion ripped into the city, a tower of fire soaring into the sky, licking at the darkness before growing weaker and blending in with the dozens of other fires.

It was a strangely beautiful sight. The city that Sally and all the other freedom fighters had come to hate and despise, going up in flames. The polluting factories, the warehouses of dangerous weapons and SwatBots, and everything else that truly made the Robotropolis a sin against nature set ablaze. It was so soothing, relieving. A confirmation that the years they had spent rebelling against Dr. Robotnik hadn't been useless.

Sally had been standing there, watching the city since she and the others had gotten back to the forest. Knuckles and Bunnie had taken Tails and Uno to Knothole, both needing a good nights sleep. They had left the Roboticizer Cannon with Sally, since Sonic would need to turn himself back to normal before he could reenter the forest, due to the metal eating properties of the Mervlo Trees.

Thinking of the blue blur, a resouding boom echoed through the air, the distinct sound of Sonic breaking the sound barrier. Within a few minutes, the roboticized hedgehog sprinted by Sally, making a lap around the Great Forest before sliding to a stop, a large cloud of dust quickly enveloping him and Sally.

"And what was that for?" Sally asked, trying to clear the dust away from her face.

"Hey, when you got this kind of speed, can you really expect anything else?"

Sally just shook her head, "No, not from you. So, are you ready to be flesh and blood again or do you want to run around mindlessly for a few more hours?"

"As tempting as that is, this blue hedgehog looks way better as Mobian."

With a small chuckle Sally picked up the Cannon, Sonic spreading his arms and saying cheese before getting hit by a reversely polarized shot. In a flash Sonic was back to normal, the blue blur smiling as he stretched and shook his head. "Ah, much better".

"That's a matter of opinion." Sally quickly cut, carrying the cannon under one of her arms as she turned and began to walk into the forest. Sonic quickly caught up, putting his arms behind his head as he walked along side Sally, the pair navigating the twisting paths of the Great Forest. One of the few times Sonic really slowed down.

"How is Tails doing?"

"He's sleeping, so we won't know anything for sure until he wakes up. Still, I think he's going to be all right."

"Can't believe he actually did all this by himself?"

"Well, believe it or not Sonic, he's starting to take after you?"

"What do you mean?"

Sally shook her head, "Oh come on Sonic. Slipping into Robotropolis, underneath Dr. Robtonik's nose, and trying to get out without being noticed. Trying to complete the mission without any help. That's how every one of your little trips to Robotropolis goes when you don't want me to find out. The only difference is I knew Tails was leaving, but even that was because he accidentally told me too much."

"You say it like it's a bad thing."

"Sonic the Hedgehog, I don't need you being a bad influence on Tails. No one, not even you, should be heading into Robotropolis without telling someone where you're going, why you're going, when you're leaving, and when you expect to be back. I don't know how many times I've been worried sick because you've up and disappeared and I don't know when or if you're coming back."

Sonic grinned devilishly, "Oh, so you worry about me."

Sally blinked a few times, quickly turning her attention away from Sonic as she blushed a little. "Well, ya… I mean… who else can get by Robotnik's security."

"Is that the only reason?" Sonic pressed. There was a silence for a time, Sally not wanting to make eye contact while the blue blur continued to stare, smiling and waiting. Finally, Sally glanced back, a small smile forming on her own lips.

"Well, maybe not the only reason."

Sonic laughed, nodding his head, "Yep, I knew it. You can't resist me."

"Oh please," Sally replied, Sonic's usual attitude dampening the moment. Still, as the pair fell into silence they couldn't help but look at each other, both smiling and blushing a little as they continued to walk along the darkened paths by moonlight.

Tails yawned, groaning as he turned over in his bed. His memories of the previous evening were swimming, but slowly he began to piece things together. He ran into Dr. Robotnik, quickly had to start running for his life. Got hit, Dr. Robotnik did something and then… after that everything was just a mix of darkness and a few traces images. After taking a moment Tails eyes flew open, a panic entering his mind as he quickly sat up and looked at his arms.

His panic then subsided, a relieved smile spreading on to his face. He was back to normal, and on top of that he was back in his bedroom in Knothole. Still, how he got back to Knothole or back to normal was a mystery. As Tails tried to remember what happened, the door to his room began to open.

"Hey sleepy head," Sally said as she clamored into the room, still mutated by Dr. Robotnik's virus. "How are you feeling?"

"Kind of tired," Tails replied with a yawn. "What happened?"

Sally took a seat on the floor beside Tails bed, telling him everything that happened after Dr. Robotnik had begun electrifying his brain. Tails listened, thankful to hear that Sonic had raced in and saved the day. If there was one thing Sonic really was the best at it was managing to always be there, ready to help at the list minute.

"So, where is Uno?"

"He's sleeping in the command center. "

"And what about the binders?"

"You had a death grip on them, but when we finally got you to let go. Rotor is looking over them right now in the workshop."

Tails smiled, lying back. His mission was a success. Sure, in the end, he hadn't been able to do it by himself. He needed the others to come and help. But, it had been a success. Still, Sally didn't seem satisfied, shifting once again from caring friend to protective aunt.

"Now, young man, I think we need to discuss your punishment."

"But what did I do?"

"For one, you built a roboticizer without tell me or anyone else and used it one yourself. Second, you were out way past your bedtime on multiple nights. And three, you almost got yourself captured by Robotnik."

Tails' ears flattened, the young fox turning his head downward as he looked at his bed sheets. Still, Sally shifted her serious tone, smiling and gently drawing Tails out of bed and giving him a hug. "But, you did help someone escape Dr. Robotnik and got the roboticizer plans. So, I think I can let you off with a warning. If you ever plan to go to Robotropolis on your own, you tell me every detail. Got it?"

Tails nodded, returning Sally's hug. "Yes Aunt Sally".

"Good," she replied, setting Tails down on the edge of his bed. "Now, why don't you get some more sleep? I've got some things to check on."

With a nod and a yawn, Tails climbed back under his covers and dozed off, his body still trying to recover from his time in Robotropolis. After shutting the bedroom door gently Sally made her way up to the command center, expecting to find Uno and have a discussion with the partially metallic wolf. Still, to her surprise, Uno was no where to be found. She did, however, find Sonic, who was lounging on the command center's outer deck.

"Hey Sonic, you know where Uno went?"

The blue hedgehog looked up, nodding his head and pointing in the direction of the river. "Ya, he's at the river. Though we didn't notice it last night, Uno stinks and a few of the others decided that if he wanted to be in the command center, he needed a bath.

"Well, what can we expect? I doubt Robotnik ever tried to clean him. Still, what about mixing his electrical component with water?"

"Rotor checked it out before they went to the river. All of his systems are water proof, like Bunnie and most of Robotnik's technology. Still, I'd say shorting out in the river is the least of Uno's concerns."

"Why's that?"

"Antoine's supervising"

"No,no,no,no… you fuelish man, have you ever handled a bar of soap?" Antoine asked, quickly moving forward to grab the soap. The French coyote was standing in the river with a pair of swim trunks, snatching up the soap before it could be carried farther down the stream.

"N… no… I haven't," Uno replied, rubbing his arms as his teeth chattered. "How can I w… when my body betrays me? What… is causing this?"

"Do you believe me a fuel?"

"No, I know you are not some engine fuel."

"No, fuel, fuel… one who is, as you say, an idiot."

Uno grumbled, shivering as he tried to stop his jaw from chattering, "No, I don't consider you a fool, but that does not change the fact I don't know what is going on."

"Well, sugah, you're shivering because you're cold."

Antoine and Uno both looked up at this, seeing Bunnie sitting on the edge of the bridge looking down on them with a small smile, on of her robotic feet swinging gently back and forth.

"Everybody knows you shiver when you are ze cold," Antoine replied, shifting his gaze back to Uno. "and this why he takes me for a fuel."

"My opinion is starting to shift in that direction for you assume too much. I have never experienced this strange sensation."

"Lies, ones I shall not be hearing."

"Antoine," Bunnie interrupted again, "Uno was kept locked up by that ol' snake in a grass Robotnik for most of his life, kept inside...."

"So…"

Bunnie shook her head, "I declare, Antoine, you are as thick as mah sweet aunt aunnie's molasses. If Uno was inside all his life, then don't you figure the room was temperature controlled."

"So… wait… are you saying that this fuel has never been in the ze outdoors, never been ze cold."

"Well, if he didn't earlier he sure does now." Bunnie replied.

"And I'm not enjoying this learning experience. Can we please move this to a new location?"

"I am sorry, but I'm not about to be hauling wood for you to take ze hot water bath. So, if you want to get out of the cold, hurry up and start cleaning."

Uno grumbled, rubbing his sides a little more before reaching out and snatching the soap, starting to scrub furiously. Antoine stood a little down river, waiting in case the soap slipped out of Uno's grip and also instructing the partially mechanical wolf on the finer points of taking the bath.

Back at the headquarters, Sally gently stepped into the workshop, seeing Rotor sitting at his workstation, the three colored binders spread out across the surface. "Hey Rotor, how is it going?"

Rotor turned around in his chair, smiling, "Pretty well actually. Dr. Robotnik was really thorough with his notes. Still, this Roboticizer stuff is way complicated."

"How far have you gotten?"

"Through the doctor's original research notes on the process. From how I'm reading it, he stole the research from someone else and refined it. Whoever originally designed this discovered a means of turning biological components into robotic ones at the cellular level. Dr. Robotonik was the one that turned it into the roboticizer. Still, I'm starting to see some inconsistencies."

"Like what?"

"Well, from what I can gather the process of turning flesh into computerized machines takes exponentially more energy as the amount of flesh increases. It's kind of like when you're trying to cook meat. The thicker the meat the longer you have to cook it to make sure the center isn't raw."

Sally nodded her head, getting the basic idea. More flesh, more energy. That was simple. Rotor, however, wasn't finished as he continued to explain. "Now I've been running calculations on how much energy it would take to roboticize one person, and that's where I'm hitting a snag. By all my calculations a full body roboticization is way too much energy to draw at once. Nothing Dr. Robotnik has designedm here or anywhere, can channel that much raw power and he'd have to shut down half of Robotropolis just to get the necessary energy."

"Then how does the cannon work?"

"It's a completely different technology that simply has the same end result. It uses a cascading effect on a cellular level, like a falling row of dominos. That is also why it takes time for the effect to settle in, since the lingering energy in the cannon keeps the system destabilized for a while."

"Just keep reading the binders Rotor, and sooner or later I'm sure you'll find out Robotnik's dirty little secret."

He nodded, "Also, I wanted to ask, how are you feeling?"

"Fine; why do you ask?"

"Well, it's been a few days Sally. By my counts, you only have a couple days before the virus starts to advance."

"Don't worry Rotor. That was the entire reason why Tails went to Robotropolis by himself in the first place. Uno had some information about the virus that will allow us to stop it from progressing, but you'll have to wait until either Tails wakes up or until Uno gets clean before you can ask them about it."

"Then I'll work on this for a while, and I'll come find you if I come across anything interesting." With that the pair gave each other gentle nods, heading off to their own business.

"Well, don't you clean up like a new penny," Bunnie said, the sun hanging practically in the center of the sky. "And more importantly, you don't stink like weak old manure."

Uno just sat silently, still shivering a little as he tried to warm himself up. Antoine had gone to fetch a few towels, leaving Uno on a stump by the river with Bunnie. Still, through the cold Uno couldn't deny that he did feel better. He never even knew his fur was so white, or that the wires coming out of him were such a glossy, metallic black. On top of that, without all the grim and grease trapped everywhere, he actually felt lighter.

"Oh Bunnie," A voice called, drawing the partially roboticized rabbits attention.

"Ah, there you are sugah," Bunnie said, giving him a gentle smile as the French coyote slowly walked up to them, dressed in his usual royal uniform while carrying a towel. He gently passed it to Uno, who took it and furiously began trying to get the last remnants of the cold water out of his fur.

"I say that I am truly ze miracle worker. I doubt anyone else could have supervised such an efficient bath."

"I don't know about that sugah, I imagine that it would have been a lot faster and easier on Uno if you had just taken the time to make some warm water."

"That is a luxury I don't get to enjoy as often as I like, and I am not about to waste the time on someone who has never bathed before. Now, if he wished to take ze hot bath, he can prepare it himself. Now, if we could only get Sonic to be as hygienic."

Bunnie just shook his head, glancing back at Uno who had finished toweling off his fur. After shivering a little more the white wolf finally began to warm up, and after reforming the tentacle like wires from his waste into legs he began walking with Bunnie and Rotor back across the river back into the heart of Knothole.

Still, with little or no warning Bunnie and Antoine quickly stepped to one side. Uno, who didn't know what was happening, kept walking fairly in the center of the bridge. He soon regretted it as Sonic zipped by him, the blue blur knocking against him. Since Sonic was going much faster he had a lot more momentum he didn't even misstep. He continued to cross the bridge, climbing up a path that led out of the natural pit Knothole was hidden in and into the rest of the forest.

Uno wasn't as luck, the force sending him teetering to one side and crashing over the bridge, landing with a loud splash in the river. Antoine and Bunnie quickly bent over the side of the bridge, looking as Uno came up sputtering. He had luckily landed in a rather shallow and slow moving part of the river, so he wasn't carried away by the current. Still, the look on Uno's face quickly communicated the fact that Uno was not happy about the fact he was soaked in cold water, again.

"Hey you guys," Rotor said, he and Tails sitting at a table, munching on sandwiches as Bunnie, Antoine, and Uno came walking in. "How did it go?"

"See for yourself." Bunnie said, stepping off to one side and letting Rotor get a good look at Uno.

"Wow, Uno, I hardly recognize you." Tails said before sinking his teeth down into his sandwich.

"I'd say I was lucky to survive."

"Oh quit your belly aching," Bunnie said, gently giving Uno a shove in the shoulder. "And speaking of bellies… Rotor, is there anything left in the icebox?"

"Ya, there are some leftovers and a few other things. Still, I think we need to make a run to Sanctuary soon. Everybody in the village is running pretty low."

"Sanctuary?" Uno echoed.

"It is ze one city that ze doctor was never able to capture, the, as you say, last true refuge." Antoine commented, pulling open some cupboards as he rummaged for something to eat.

"We can grow a lot of crops here in Knothole, but there are just some things we have to get from Sancutary."

"Like my Chili Dogs"

Uno jumped a little, spinning around as he saw Sonic standing right beside him. All the others in the room didn't seem that shocked, but then again they were used to Sonic popping in and out so suddenly. Uno, however, quickly shifted from surprise to anger, growling a little.

"Why did you push me off the bridge?"

"Who da, hum da, what now?"

"Sugah hog, when you were headin' across the bridge earlier you knocked him off." Bunnie commented, finishing assembling herself a sandwich before taking a seat at the table.

"Whoa, sorry dude. Most people know that when I'm juicing, you need to step back and clear the way. Still, I'm sorry all the same."

Uno just shook his head, metallic wires clanking together behind his back. "I don't even really care right now. All I seem to think about is this strange empty, pained sensation in my gut."

"That makes sense," Rotor commented, chomping down the last bite of his sandwich. "You haven't eaten anything since you gotten here, and from what Tails told me Dr. Robotnik just pumped the nutrients your body needed straight into your blood. I imagine that you would be hungry."

"Walking, cold, hunger… only words to me prior and now adjectives for my existence. Maybe I was better off as a CCPU."

"Nah, running around is a whole lot better then hanging from wires in some room." Sonic said, zipping over to the kitchen quickly. "Still, since this is going to be your first meal, I'm going to show you the best, irresistible, awesome food in the world. A Chili Dog."

The others just their head, hoping that Sonic wouldn't pass along his chili god scarfing habits to the partially metallic white wolf. Uno watched as Sonic drew out a box from one of the cupboards, shaking out two small tablets before placing them in the hydroizer. It was the same way Dr. Robotnik's chef robots prepared all his meals.

The dry pellets were developed a few decades before the war. The dry pellet was placed in the hydroizer, which would reinsert the water that had been taken from the material at a specified temperature. When it was done, the dry pellet would have formed into any number of foods. At first the food wasn't that great, but as the process of turning food into pellets improved so did the flavor. It still couldn't beat someone who was really good at making food the old fashion way, but it left you satisfied and cooking was as easy as pushing the button.

Sonic's mouth was partially watering as the hydroizer, which looked like it had been repaired a number of times, made a small dinning noise. Sonic quickly popped the door open, pulling out two chili dogs, steaming with just the right amount of chili so you got all the flavor but didn't have to deal with a big mess.

"Here, give it a try." Sonic said, offering Uno one of the two chili dogs. The wolf took it tentatively, sniffing it before looking up at Sonic. The blue blur had already taken a bite of his, making a few sounds as he enjoyed the taste. Finally, after inspecting the chili dog for nearly a minute Uno opened his mouth and took a small bit, getting a little bit of everything before he chewed it and swallowed.

"So, what do you think?" Sonic asked, expecting to hear only praises.

Uno took another bite, chewing it and swallowing before he looked up and shrugged. Sonic blinked a few times, shaking his head, "Whoa, whoa… whoa, wait a second. Did you just shrug at a chili dog's taste? No one can just shrug at a chili dog's taste."

"Sonic, take it easy. You have to remember that he hasn't had to eat anything since Dr. Robotnik hooked him up as his processor core."

"All right, then let me fill you in." Sonic said, his attention still turned to Uno. "When something tastes bad, you want to spit it out. If something tastes good, then you want to take another bite. If something tastes really good, then you want to eat it all quickly. If something is as delicious as a chili dog, then you can't wait until you get to have another. So, on that scale, how does that chili dog taste?"

"Good," Uno replied, still not quite sure of this whole taste thing.

"Good, don't you mean really good or, even better, delicious."

"No, I'd say good."

"Okay, you know what, we need a test." Sonic said, quickly scrounging in the cupboards before pulling out a carrot. "Here, try this, and I dare you to tell me that a chili dog doesn't taste better then this carrot."

Uno, not seeing any point in resisting, took the carrot and bit down on it. He chewed it for a time, swallowed, took another bite and soon, had downed the whole carrot. Sonic was taping his foot impatiently, wanting to hear the results. "Well?"

"Actually, I liked the carrot better."

Sonic froze, a look of complete shock on his face. The others began to laugh, Antoine quickly saying, "Ah, it seem that even without eating anything his whole life Uno has better tastes then you my blue friend, ."

"No way, I won't believe it. You can't like a carrot better then a chili dog." Sonic replied, quickly grabbing an apple that was sitting on top of the kitchen counters and passing it to Uno. "Here, try this and you'll see a chili dog is way better."

"Oh, would you quit hasslin' him sugar hog. Poor guy just wants to grab a bite."

Sonic glanced over at Bunnie, and then back to Uno. He then set the apple down, saying in a fairly menacing tone. "This isn't over." At that Sonic quickly grabbed up and downed the rest of his own chili dog in one bite before zipping out of the kitchen, the surge of wind nearly knocking Uno off his feet.

After they had finished eating Bunnie and Antoine left, having to go work some of the vegetable gardens. Uno was quickly drafted by Tails and Rotor. It was time cure Sally, or at least stop the viruses from progressing, and the pair weren't about to take no for the answer.

The way in which to create the cure was escaping the pair of technical minded freedom fighters, but with Uno clarifying some fact and filling in other obscure details they were able to quickly assemble a means of connecting with the viruses, which were truly just nano-machines. With the modified wireless transmitter/receiver ready the trio had Sally sit on a table in the lab, waiting patiently as Tails and Rotor worked at the problem.

As she waited, Sally turned her attention to Uno. The partially metallic wolf was occupying himself with some strange electrical component in the corner, but quickly turned his head up when he heard Sally call his name.

"Yes," He replied, setting down the component and moving over to Sally.

"I've been meaning to ask you a few questions, about Robotnik's system and Robotropolis."

"What kind of questions?"

"First," Sally said coolly, her tone serious and focuses, "Do you know anything about my father, King Maximillian Acorn? Has he been roboticized or did he escape when Robotnik attacked the palace?"

Uno looked down, closing his eyes. He just sat there for a while, but in time he frowned, looking up at Sally and shaking his head, "There was never any mention of one Maximillian Acorn on the Robotropolis system, as a robot or in any or way. Still, you have to remember I was linked into the system after Dr. Robotnik had already invaded and established the citadel."

"What about from when you were a part of his flag ship?"

"I… I think there was one thing. It was… it was a field report from a squad of SwatBots. They had been ordered to capture one Maximillian Acorn and to deliver him to Dr. Robotnik. The mission, however, was never closed."

"What do you mean it was never closed?"

"If your father had been captured, the mission report would have marked as completed. If he had escaped, then it would have been marked as a failure. If it wasn't completed, then there are a few possibilities. First, the SwatBots were all destroyed and, for some reason, Dr. Robotnik didn't have the mission pursued or closed. Or, the mission is really still open meaning King Acorn has evaded Dr. Robotnik's custody. Or…"

"Or?" Sally pressed, her nerves straining.

"Or he was killed or found dead by the SwatBots, which could have caused a system error and leaving the file unclosed or updated."

Sally felt her heart sink, covering her face. It seemed even Dr. Robotnik didn't know what happened to her father, or he didn't want anyone to know so he didn't even put it on his computers. Sally sighed, she had hoped that Uno would be the one to finally tell her what happened to her father. Still, it was another dead end and the mystery remained unanswered.

"I'm sorry," Uno offered, which drew a quick reply from Sally.

"It's not your fault Uno. Still, do you know anything Sir Charles Hedgehog?"

"One Charles Hedgehog is a registered roboticized Mobian who is apart of the think tank system."

"Think tanks?"

"Yes. The think tanks are roboticized Mobians whose minds have been linked together in a lab simulation, allowing them to perform research for Dr. Robotnik. He is a brilliant person, but he also doesn't hold back in delegating duties to others. Sir Charles Hedgehog is in Think Tank 2 with four other well known figures. One Dr. Doris Kelling, One Dr. Tonia Ling, One Professor Fredrick Lore, and One Dr. Jillian Prower."

"What?" Tails asked, the sound of his last name drawing him away from the computer where he and Rotor were working.

"Who is the last person you just listed?" Sally asked, her own interest in the conversation spiking.

"One Jillian Prower, roboticized Mobian who was installed in Think Tank 2 when one of its previous members started malfunctioning and had to be placed in a less demanding position."

"When and where was she captured?"

"Jillian Prower was captured and robotized several years ago, by the roboticizer in the Mobile Fortress. It is in the time period when the fortress was leading an attack on the city of Hermth, which is currently near the boarder of Robotnik's controlled territory."

Sally and Tails glanced at each other, both thinking the same thing. A few years back, when everyone was about twelve and tails was only six, Sonic had been out running near that area. He was supposed to pick up something from someone in Hermth, but arrived to find the city destroyed. The only person he could find was Tails, who was hiding in a closet at the time.

"I'm sorry," Uno interrupted, looking at the two, "but, exactly what revelance does this information have on the current situation?"

"Uno, Tails' real name is Miles Prower. I think you have may just told us what happened to his mother." Sally replied, just a few moments before Tails had swooped in.

"Can you tell me where my dad is? Did he escape?"

"Well, there are a few other roboticized Mobians registered in Robotropolis that have a last name Prower, but… there is only one capture around that same time. General Victor Prower, commander of the forces that defended the city of Hermth during the original attack. Records show he was roboticized a few minutes after Jillian. He…"

"What is it?"

Uno looked at Tails, a pained look on his face. Still, he began to recite the information, "One Victor Prower, roboticized Mobian. Due to his heavy experience in battle tactics and strategy, was integrated and made commander of Mobile Fortress."

Tails' eyes narrowed, the two tailed fox staring at Uno. "He… he what?"

"Victor Prower is acting commander of the Mobile Fortress."

"No…" Tails said, shaking his head, "You're lying. He can't…"

"He isn't doing it by choice Tails," Sally comforted, her hand coming to rest on Tails' shoulder. "Dr. Robotnik is making him do it."

Tails shook his head, pushing Sally away. "Tell the truth Uno. My father wouldn't do that."

"I'm sorry Tails, but…"

Tails didn't stay to listen, turning and running out of the room. Sally would have given anything to stop him, but Rotor made her stay back. They were still trying to disable the viruses, and it was proving more difficult than before. Sally begrudgingly retook her seat, but look at the door impatiently.

"Uno, can you go check on him?"

"I don't think I'm the right person to be doing that." The white wolf replied frankly.

"Besides," Rotor said, "I need his help. The viruses are fighting back. I can't change the code fast enough."

Uno titled his head, walking over to the computer. "What do you mean you can't change the code fast enough? You simply must perform a mass firmware update."

"What do you mean a mass firmware update? There isn't a system that can perform such a delicate process in bulk. I'm barely able to access one viruses memory to initialize the change, how am I supposed to attack all of them at once."

Uno shook his head, "No, this shouldn't be this difficult. Dr. Robotnik performs mass firmware updates at least once a month. I know because I usually have a headache afterward. I get the command, and the system used my brain to send the update out to all the affected systems."

Rotor arched an eyebrow, glancing between the computer and Uno. "Hey, do you mind if I try something."

Uno glanced at Rotor, eyeing the walrus wearily, "Exactly what, pray tell, do you want to try?"

"All right, are you ready Uno?" Rotor asked about ten minutes later.

"That depends what you mean by ready?" Uno replied, having laid out on his stomach. Rotor's big idea was to use Uno in the system, since he seemed to know exactly what was supposed to happen. At the moment several wires from the back of his head were plugged into numerous parts of the workshop's computer systems, the wires automatically integrating with the systems as Uno became a part of the hardware.

"All right, I'm beginning the process." Rotor said, hitting the enter key. Uno grunted a little, but Rotor could only smile as he watched the progress bar on the screen crawl towards completion. Still, at 63% the process began to falter, the download actually back down a little before stalling.

"What's happening?" Rotor asked, quickly typing on the system.

"You're firmware update code tripped over a security alarm, the viruses are now trying to repel the download." Uno replied, shifting a little as he turned to look at the walrus.

"Well, can't you do anything?"

"What do you expect me to do? I'm apart of the system."

"But you aren't just a machine. You can influence it, right?"

Uno groaned, "I'm really starting to wonder if things would be simpler if I stayed in Robotropolis. Uh…… if I can get the aid of an AI system that software can launch a assault against the viruses. That should cause them to focus on repelling the digital AI from penetrating the system and allow the firmware to update."

"Here, take Nicole." Sally said, holding out her palm-sized computer with her lower left hand. Rotor quickly took Nicole, turning her on and grabbing another one of Uno's cables before connecting the two.

Uno shook his head a little, Nicole's AI system and his mind communicating quickly. After getting a summary of the situation Nicole began her part of the attack strategy, formally announcing, "Beginning Security Firewall Assault".

Rotor nodded, turning back to his less sophisticated computer and watching the progress bar continuing to climb. Finally, it reached a hundred percent and the process was completed. Smiling and letting out a tensely held breath, Rotor flopped back in a chair. "There, you are now officially not going to get any worse."

Sally smiled, sitting up from the table, "Thanks you guys. Now, I had better go check on Tails." With that the mutated princess rushed out of the room, hoping to find Tails in his room and comfort the two tailed fox. Rotor just shook his head, going about the process of unhooking Uno from different parts of his computer system.

Still, as the walrus prepare to unhook Nicole the palm-sized computer let of a small warning message, "Do Not Disconect, adaptive system update in progress."

"What?" Rotor said, trying to cancel the process but finding that Nicole had completely locked him out. Concerned, Rotor turned his attention to Uno. The white wolf was lying on the table, but it looked like he had fallen asleep. It was so strange, and Rotor began to worry what was just happening between Uno's brain and Nicole.

"Nicole, when will update be complete?"

"Estimated completion is in one hours"

"Well, I guess that isn't too bad." Rotor said, scratching his head. After all, Nicole was a very complicated computer. How much could really happen in just one hour?

That night, with the cool air gently filtering into the command center, the Freedom Fighters of the Great Forest met. Rotor, Sally, Knuckles, and Sonic were all standing around the map, having just gotten a report from scouts of Robotropolis's current condition. Dr. Robotnik, after Sonic's devastating attack, had completely locked down the city. With so many of his robots and buildings lost, the doctor knew he was vulnerable.

Dr. Robotnik had even gone as far as activating the city's shield generators. Covering such a large area was a huge draw on his power grid, but it kept the city protected beneath an impenetrable barrier that even Sonic couldn't get through. Still, while it made things more difficult Sally took it as a positive sign. They had really hurt Robotnik, and if they could just get into the city they could deliver the final blow and retake the once proud capitol of the kingdom.

"So, any ideas?" Sally asked, since everyone had discussed and agreed they needed to attack Robotnik while he was weak, before he could rebuild Robotropolis and his robots.

"We've always used the defensive barriers to stop Dr. Robotnik's attacks, but that's because there is no way to get through them once their active. We would have to get him to lower his shields first." Rotor commented, knowing the technical specs of defensive barriers better then anyone.

"Still, with Dr. Robotnik hiding behind that barrier, licking his wounds, we could easily attack and take any of the other city's he's taken over."

"We don't want to spread ourselves to thinly Sonic. When that barrier comes down Dr. Robotnik will probably have a few new armies ready to attack, and he'll be out for revenge after we not only stole his research binders but also Uno." Sally commented.

"What about the Mobile Fortress. It's not in the city right now. We could easily take it out when Robotnik can't send reinforcements."

Rotor shook his head, "No, we should try to capture it."

The others fell silent, staring at Rotor. It wasn't like him to suggest such a bold sounding plan. Still, after a little prompting Rotor began to explain himself, laying out his idea carefully.

"No guys, think about it. If we can mask the fact we've taken control of it, we can get Dr. Robotnik to let us into Robotropolis. Then, once we're in, we can launch a sneak attack against the doctor. We could even use the weapons on the Mobile Fortress against the turrets on the citadel."

Knuckles nodded his head, starting to get into the idea. "Ya, and the Mobile Fortress could hold a lot of fighters and weapons. We could easily arm a whole force of freedom fighters and plow through anything Robutnik throws at us."

"You're also forgetting that we have the Roboticizer Cannon. If we wanted, we could temporarily roboticize Sonic, Knuckles, anyone so that we could have a better chance against Dr. Robotnik."

Sally shook her head, "I don't want to risk using that cannon again unless we have to. Still, even if we just took control of the Mobile Fortress it would be a huge hit against Dr. Robotnik, no matter what we do with it. The only problem I see is how we do that."

"I bet once we get inside it would just be a matter of hacking some code, and with Tails and Nicole, there is not way anything Robotnik's programmed can stand a chance against us."

"It's defenantly an idea." Sally said, leaning on the table, "But Robotnik won't even be able to begin repairs until he gets in a shipment of raw metal from his mines, and that won't be for a few days. I say we just take a break for a while, and think this through more carefully. On top of that, we need to start sending messages out to all the other groups of Freedom Fighters. Uno has information about every Mobian roboticized. I don't know how he keeps it all in his head, but that's beside the point."

"And why exactly do we want to spread this list around?"

"There are a lot of people would at least be happy to know their friends or family are still alive, even if they are slaves to Robotnik. Others would probably like to be sure some people really are gone for good. We also need to make a trip to Sanctuary, to give them a detailed report of what's happened in the past few days. We may even be able to convince the governor to lend us some of the city's armed forces."

Sonic smiled, nodding his head, "Whatever we do, I can't wait to see the look on that old fuzz ball's face when he sees his niece."

Sally grimaced a little, thinking of her uncle. While she was still technical next in line for the throne of the kingdom, Sally had chosen to stay on the front lines and to keep fighting Robotnik while her uncle governed and protected the only city on Mobius that never fell to Robotnik'. Seeing her twice as tall with four arms and tail/antenna things, it would defenantly be a shock to the old squirrels system.

In Robotropolis, secluded in a darkened room, Dr. Robotnik sat in his thrown, looking at numerous computer screens replaying security footage. He watched time and again as not only was he beaten by those rodents, but his city was decimated and two things very important to his dominance were stolen. He was rapping his fingers on the armrest of his thrown, a low, constant growl emanating from his throat as he focused on the center screen, which showed the Roboticized Sonic standing on the rubble of his SwatBots.

"Dr. Robotnik, repairs across the city have begun but… we're running low on metal. Without the CCPU and so much power being drawn by the defensive barrier, we can only operate one smelting plant. At current estimates, it will take several months to bring the city back up to 100% operating capacity and troop strength."

"Curse that Hedgehog." Dr. Robotnik hissed, his anger having boiled down to a brooding hatred. "He has been a thorn in my side for so long, and all this time I thought it would be so grand to have him roboticized. I could just see it now, with him under my control not only would Sally and those other vermin in Knothole be gone but I could easily attack and obliterate every Freedom Fighter. If only I had him under my power."

"If only…" Dr. Robotnik repeated, the gears of his mind beginning to turn. "Core, how many different cameras caught sight of the hedgehog while he was Roboticized."

"At least thirty Dr. Robotnik, on approach and several got long, slow shots of him while he was standing in the center of the street."

"Core, let city repairs go along as scheduled but get me in contact with the AI commanders for all our other settlements. Patch them all into my private lab, and send copies of those video files to the lab as well."

"Yes Dr. Robotnik." Core replied, quickly beginning to process the orders.

"You may have won this time hedgehog." Robotnik hissed, a devilish smile spreading onto his face. "But this war is far from over."

_The End of Part 1_

_Note from Author: I hoped you all enjoyed this part of Links in a Chain. Soon to follow this chapter is Part 2, which will be stored later in this story._

_Dr. Robotnik is down, and with one more push the Freedom Fighters could retake Robotropolis. Still, Dr. Robotnik will not go down quietly and has a few things planned for our heroes. Concerns also run high as the team searches for a means of reversing Sally's mutation._

_No matter what, the end has begun. Either Robotnik's metallic empire will fall or disaster will strike the Freedom Fighters. Each event is just another link in the chain._


	10. Part 2: Cracked Acorn & Mobile Fotress

_Welcome to the second part of Links in a Chain_. _To recap, the Great Forest Freedom Fighters have struck a piercing blow against Dr. Robotnik. The evil dictator's city of Robotropolis is so badly damanged he has gone to hiding behind the defensive barrier. With the threat of robot attack subdued for a time, Sonic and the others are going to make a long overdue trip to Sanctuary, the only Mobian city to never fall against Dr. Robotnik's forces._

_Still, much has changed for the freedom fighters. Sally is still mutated and time is running out before the virus will enter its final stage. Even if the virus is stopped, how to turn Sally back to normal is still a mystery. How will the residents of Sanctuary take to seeing Sally, the heir to the throne, mutated. Wil our heroes try to capture the Mobile Fortress or will Dr. Robotnik bounce back from his humuliating defeat even more dangerous._

_Each event will lead to another, each one just a link in the chain._

Part 2 Cracked Acorn and the Mobile Fortress

Chapter 10

A furious wind following in his wake, Sonic ran across the wastelands that surrounded the Great Forest, head gently bumping as he hummed a tune in his head. It had been about a week since they had really hit it hard to Robotnik, and the old chrome dome had been hiding behind his city's defensive barriers since. It was almost like the doctor had disappeared, and everyone was enjoying the sensation of not having a threat of a robot attack looming over their heads.

Sonic skidded around a corner before quickly flipping over and doing a hand spring, jumping down a well hidden hole and motoring through the tunnel before skidding to a stop in the small entry area of Knothole. Without even pausing a moment, the blue blur zipped up onto the bridge, looking around as he smiled. Everyone was bustling around, and for good reason. It wasn't often when they made a trip to Sanctuary, and a lot had to be prepared.

Sitting in the center of the area just in front of the freedom fighter headquarters was a large vehicle. It had once been one of Robotnik's air bombers, but it had gone down in the forest a few years back. Now, the air ship had its wings replaced with wheels, turning it into the only motorized vehicle in Knothole.

Knowing he'd get a few angry shouts if he blew through at full speed, Sonic went about tenth his max, zipping through the crowd that were swarmed around the transport, which Rotor had named the Rolling Thunder.

Even with such a large effort against Dr. Robotnik, every person in the village, official freedom fighter or not, had to do their part. Sanctuary gave each registered freedom fighter group a semi-annual budget. The city, since it was the one place where the old Mobian economics was still working, was basically paying to keep every freedom fighter group feed. Still, the money they were given could only be spent in the city and only on food.

Thus, since the city needed several supplies of its own that it couldn't obtain, a sort of trade economy had developed between the freedom fighter forces and the city of Sanctuary. It gave them food to keep fighting, and they could bring in different supplies, from scarp metal to even home grown food. Anything brought to the city could be traded for money that could then used to purchase anything desired. It allowed the city to thrive and allowed the freedom fighter groups, like the populace of Knothole, to have some more advanced tools and modern comforts.

Tails was standing on the back of the Rolling Thunder which had been gutted leaving a very large open storage place in the back for a cargo area. Every person or family in the village had something they had grown, made, or scavenge that they wanted sold in Robotropolis. They each also had some things they wanted to purchase with the money made from selling their items. Basically, it was a trip to the market for the entire village that only happened a few times every year.

Usually, Sally was the one that kept track of everything being loaded into the Rolling Thunder, but because of her recent mutation, the task had been delegated Tails, who was writing everything down diligently. Sonic quickly zipped up behind the two tailed fox, smiling and rubbing his head. "And how's my little buddy today?"

"Hey Sonic," He replied, laughing and glancing back at the blue blur. "I'm… I'm good."

Sonic's own smile weakened a little, knowing that Tails was still trying to come to terms with the fact that his father was the roboticized commander of the mobile fortress. Still, Sonic didn't push the issue, quickly asking, "So, what's the damage?"

"At this rate, we may even need to strap some things to the roof."

"No kidding, that much."

"With Dr. Robotnik and his armies hiding in Robotropolis, everyone's having us take more stuff along since there's isn't much chance of it being stolen."

"Way past cool." Sonic said, giving Tails a thumbs up. "Now, I got to go talk with Sal. You know where she is?"

"I think she's in the workshop with Rotor and Uno."

Sonic nodded, giving a foot a quick spin before zipping through the crowd and into the headquarters. In the past week it had been decided that they were going to try and seize control of the Mobile fortress, turning it against Dr. Robotnik. Still, such ambitious goal required a lot of planning. Rotor had been spending the week literally picking at Uno's brain, using his computer connection to search the vast amount of system information that was locked away in Uno's mind.

At that moment Uno was sitting on a table, most of the wires that were connected to his head connected to a number of different components in Rotor's lab. The technical minded walrus was sitting at his desk, typing out commands as he continued to search through the massive amount of files.

"Are you sure you can't tell us where to look Uno?" Sally asked, supervising the effort to find the plans for the mobile fortress.

"Yes, I'm sure. While I can access any of the information I know nothing of the actual filing system. Could you tell me where exactly in your brain you keep a memory or even the knowledge of your name?"

"No, I guess I can't, but if we're going to get my uncle to give us help attacking the fortress then we need to show him we have a solid plan, and we can't make that until we have the blue prints."

"If I may offer my assistance, Sally?"

The mutated princess blinked a few times, reaching into her vest and pulling out Nicole. The palm sized computer had been acting strangely all week. She sounded the same and did everything Sally asked of her, but she was also speaking up at weird times. That, and she was also doing things Sally hadn't asked of her, like offering her assistance.

"You think you can find the files Nicole."

"If they are present…"

Sally nodded, handing Nicole to Rotor, the walrus quickly connecting Nicole to one of Uno's free wires. Nicole's screen quickly began to flash, Sally and Rotor watching her while Uno stared off at the far wall, not enjoying the fact he had been sitting there for the past five hours. He could feel Nicole poking around in his head, strange memories or thoughts popping up inn his mind and Nicole opened files.

It was during the search that Sonic came zipping in, smiling as he skidded to a stop, "Whoa, Uno, that's some bed head you've got. Ever think about tying back all those wires."

Uno didn't reply, ignoring Sonic's usual attempt at humor as he prayed that Nicole would finally find the file Rotor had spent hours looking for. Still, while Uno brooded Sally drew Sonic's attention, "We're you able to find the mobile fortress?"

"I checked out the flatlands between New Haven and Robotropolis, just like you asked/ It looks like Dr. Robotnik doesn't want it going anywhere, that walking tin can is hunkered down and surrounded by bolt brains."

"At least we don't have a moving target, but if it's defended like that then we'll definitely need the help of Sanctuary to get through. Not only does Robotnik have some of his newest robot designs in that army, the mobile fortress is loaded with weapons. We'd have to at least disable the anti-ground defenses before we could even think about getting close."

"Don't worry Sal, when you've got me and I've got a power ring, nothing stands a chance."

"I applaud your confidence, but I'd like to stay on the safe side if you wouldn't mind." Sally replied, "How are things going outside?"

"Tails says that we might have to actually strap some stuff on the roof, but from the size of the crowd I'd say we're pretty close to being loaded up."

"Good, I'd like to get out of here before sunset so that we can arrive in Sanctuary by tomorrow morning."

"Now, are you sure you want to go with us Sally?" Rotor asked, "I don't think many people are going to see you, the heir to the throne, like this."

"I have to talk with my uncle if we're going to get help from the city's defense forces. Besides, I thought you were working on something to at least make me normal sized again."

Rotor nodded, turning and grabbing something off his work bench. It was a silver toned bracelet with a small yellow sphere attached to one side. "It uses some of Robotnik's size manipulation technology. It should be able to shrink you down to your old size, though you'd still have basically the same body. I mean, it would be able to do that but I've never been able to figure how to program the blast thing."

"Um, Rotor, would you mind…" Uno asked, holding out his hand. Rotor blinked a few times, and then gently smacked his head as he realized that Uno could quickly program almost anything. After passing the bracelet to Uno the wolf held out his other hands, the claw like wires sticking out the back of his hand hooking into the bracelet. He closed his eyes for a moment, lost in concentration before opening them up and unhooking himself.

"You've used a status lock technology for the size manipulation effect, which I find a little surprising. Still, it should work now as it's designed. Why didn't you implement a more permanent feedback loop to allow for the effects to linger even after the bracelet was removed?"

"I didn't have the focusing rotor for a permanent effect system, and it would have required a system to reverse the effect and I barely had the parts to build this."

"Would you two mind talking English?" Sonic asked, not enjoying the fact he was a little lost in the conversation.

"While Sally wears the bracelet, she can press these two buttons to shrink down or return to this size, but if she takes the bracelet off she'll quickly snap back to this size."

"Now why didn't you just say that in the first place?" Sonic asked as Rotor handed the bracelet to Sally. Still, Rotor and Uno ignored Sonic's question as Sally gently pressed the buttons on the Bracelet. With a smile she quickly began to shrink in size, eventually returning to her normal height though still remaining fairly mutated.

"Her arm and leg proportions have changed." Rotor noted, a little surprised.

"Sorry, I did that. I was trying to get her torso and head back to their original size and make sure her arms and legs weren't so disproportioned."

"You can actually do that with that kind of size manipulation system."

Uno nodded, "You just have to introduce a modulation frequency into the core compartment to…"

"Come on Sal," Sonic whispered, grabbing one of her four hands, "Let's zip out of here and leave the two tech geeks to talk."

Sally smiled and nodded, letting Sonic quickly zip her away and outside. To say the least Tails was happy to see her back to at least normal size, as were many other people in the village. Two of which were slowly walking up, carrying boxes of their own stuff.

"It's good to see you're not as tall as you used to be, Sugah." Bunnie said, setting down her own box.

"Ya, now you don't have to ride outside." Knuckles commented, drawing a cold glare from Bunnie and a small laugh from Sally. Still, Tails changed the subject of the conversation, moving towards Knuckles and peering into his box.

"What have you got Knuckles?"

"Oh, just some stuff I've been collecting that I think the museum in Sanctuary would be interested in."

Tails reached into the box, eyes widening a little as he drew out something that looked like a stone statue. "Cool"

"Where did you find that Knuckles?"

"You'd be surprised what you can find when you're walking on a road, and I've been out to so many of the other cities that I've had plenty of chances to collect some stuff. This actually came from the Southern edge of the wastelands, from about half a year ago."

"What have you got Bunnie?" Sonic asked, his own curiosity starting to perk.

"Oh, just some things I've snagged from old junk heaps that are rusting in Robotnik's junk yard. Rotor told me what parts the mechanics in Sanctuary are running low on so that I knew what to look for. It's nothing we can use, but he says their essential components to some of their defensive system."

Sonic laughed a little, pulling out a Robotic eye and turning it over between his thumb and forefinger. "Well, I hope they keep an EYE out for the good stuff."

The others shook their head, ignoring Sonic's weak attempt at word play. Back in the lab, Rotor had gone to get himself something to eat, leaving Uno sitting alone in the workshop while Nicole searched his mind for the mobile fortress plans. The white wolf really wasn't paying much attention, his own stomach grumbling from the fact that he missed lunch.

"If you are hungry you should have asked Rotor to bring you something back."

Uno turned his attention to Nicole, the palm-sized computer still processing the search but, at the same time, finding enough free CPU power to do other things.

"And just how do you know I'm hungry."

"I'm connected to you, so I know everything you are thinking."

"That's a comforting thought." Uno replied.

"Sarcasm, a very interesting thought pattern. Updating system logs…"

"What exactly are you updating?"

"Myself" Nicole replied, a second progress bar appearing on her screen. "I am an adaptive, artificial intelligence. Programmed to not only to assist Sally but also to grow and adapt based on the computer systems I have been connected to."

"So… you're updating yourself with things from my head."

"Yes and no. The Mobian brain is the most powerful computer ever created, not only processing thoughts and actions but also having the ability to create and think critically about complicated concepts. As per my programming, I am to improve myself whenever connected to a system with a superior software or system design. So, while I am not copying things from your mind, I am analyzing how your thoughts operate so I can update myself, allowing me to better simulate a true, natural Mobian intelligence."

"Great, so I'm the reason Sally thinks you've got a bug. Trust me Nicole, there are better minds you could try and simulate then mine. I've been treated as a computer component most of my life, not like a true Mobian."

"But that makes you a perfect hybrid system. While still possessing your creative, natural mind your thoughts and memories are organized in a computer like fashion. As one might put it in metaphorical literature, you are a stepping stone between humanity and A.I intelligence."

"Great, going from a CPU to a stepping stone. I'm really moving up in the world."

"Yes, such a great improvement."

Uno glanced at Nicole, eyeing the computer wearily. "Was that…"

"An attempt at sarcasm… yes, was it successful?"

"Mildly"

"Noting result of sarcasm attempt and will analyze to allow for better use in future situations."

Uno just groaned a little, bending forward and letting his head hang down low as he usually did when he had a headache. Not only was a computer sifting through his head like a hard drive, but he was talking with Nicole about how successful her attempt in sarcasm was. Things were so much simpler back in Robotropolis.

It was when the sun starting to near the far horizon that everyone finished loading their things onto the transport ship. With a little rearranging Tails had gotten everything tucked away inside, even with just a little room to spare on other things. Nicole had also managed to locate and download the blueprints for the mobile fortress from Uno's mind.

With all their preparations complete, it was time to head out. Sitting in the cockpit of the Rolling Thunder was Sally at the steering wheel, Rotor at navigation, with Bunnie, Knuckles, Tails, Uno, and Antoine in the passenger seats. Sonic was outside, standing by a control consol near the edge of the city.

To get such a large vehicle out of the forest, the freedom fighters had to use their launch tunnel. It was a fairly large passage that had been dug to the Wastelands just outside the forest. It was usually never used, since the size of the tunnel would allow Robotnik to send a huge army of robots right into the heart of Knothole. Still, it also could act as an emergency exit, wide enough to allow everyone to get out of Knothole fairly quickly in case of emergency.

Sonic tapped his foot, waiting impatiently. Finally, Sally gave him a thumbs up and Sonic pulled the lever on the nearby consol. Slowly, the rock wall boarder on the side of Knothole began to slide back, revealing a long wide passage with a gentle tilt upward. After a few moments the Rolling Thunder began to move forward, its engines grumbling gently. Once the ship was all the way into the access tunnel Sonic pushed the level up, speeding in before the doors shut and racing to the other end.

After reaching the far end of the tunnel Sonic found a second lever, and upon pulling it the end of the passage began to shift, opening up onto the Wastelands. With the sign of light at the end of the tunnel, Sally and Rotor made a few final adjustments before throttling up the engines. With a lurch the ship began to charge down the tunnel, soaring the air for a moment as it left, before landing on the sands and speeding away.

Sonic smiled, quickly pushing the lever to shut the door and slipping out, his amazing speed allowing him to catch up with the Rolling Thunder in a few seconds. The door in the back of transport began to open, allowing Sonic to jump inside. Once the door was shut and Sonic was in his seat, Sally and Rotor pushed the transport to full throttle, a sonic boom cutting through the air as the ship charged across the land, nearly matching Sonic's famous speed.

Beneath the energy barrier of Robotropolis, every maintenance bot worked tirelessly to repair the city, all other functions shut down as they tried to reassemble key structure from scratch, and on already drained power grid. Still, in the citadel, Dr. Robotnik took little concern in the reassembly of his city or the reconstruction of his armies. He was instead hidden away, in the darkness of his private lab.

With only a few giant computer screens and a few small ceiling lamps to illuminate his task, Dr. Robotnik worked. On the digital monitors, security footage kept running back and forth, Dr. Robotnik studying everything precisely. In front of him, on the work bench, were a large set of complex plans. He gently drew a line on the page with one hand, filling in technical details before looking back up at the screen.

"Core, switch to interior scanning software and zoom in on quadrant six in the center image."

"Yes, Dr. Robotnik." Core echoed, the screen soon reflecting the doctor's wishes. He studied the screen closely, his devilish eyes furrowed in a perpetual, hateful glare. The designs were ingenious, but copying them would not be enough. For what he wanted, he needed to improve upon and them. Still, before upgrades could be made he first have to finish reverse engineering the designs that took his technology and used it in ways he had never imagined.

"Doctor"

"What is it Core? I specifically asked for no interruptions."

"My apologies, but satellites have detected large, supersonic object has departed the Great Forest and his heading in the direction of the Mobian city."

"Hmm, those foolish rodents must think that just because they beat me once I am no longer a threat, risking themselves on a trip to their precious Sanctuary. No matter, even their sacred city will soon fall beneath the footstep of my machines, my precious machines."

"Also, Dr. Robotnik, you wanted a report on the other cities."

"Yes, what is the status of the rest of my empire?"

"Most smaller settlements are in the same state they were in upon last full empire diagnostic. There is one small city near the Northern Boarder where the freedom fighters who have been hiding in the Grimtooth Valley have started pushing against the defenders. If we do not send reinforcements there is a high probability the city will be lost."

"If those filthy rebels want it back so bad, we should just give it to them."

"Sir?"

"Order all robots in all boarder cities to fall back in the inner ring settlements, and to begin operation Nexus."

"Sir, we cannot begin operation Nexus in the empires current state. There are too few resources and processing plants to sustain such a…."

"That is why I want all the boarder cities stripped." Dr. Robotnik interrupted, "Gut them for what ever components we need. Tear them apart. I want Operation Nexus underway, no matter what the cost."

"Yes, Dr. Robotnik. I will send word to command systems all settlements outside the inner defensive ring are to be scraped and gutted, all viable components to be used in operation Nexus. Any other orders sir?"

"Just alter all inner ring robotic governors that they must direct all of their available forces into the project and that they should also initiate all high level defense protocals."

"Yes sir, sending commands. Will begin coordinating Project Nexus immediately."

"Very good," Dr. Robonik said, smiling as he continued to work on his technical designs. "I shall be rid of that hedgehog and all the freedom fighters, one way or another."

Back on the Rolling Thunder, Rotor had taken the wheel of the rocket propelled transport. The landscape outside was zipping by, the transport having locked onto the guided road, a last remnant of the once advanced railway system that stretched the entire kingdom. Dr. Robotnik had destroyed most of the rails outside his control, not wanting them to be used by the freedom fighter. Still, key rails had been repaired, allowing clear paths for transports like the Rolling Thunder to travel on.

Rotor yawned, shaking his head a little as he continued to keep an eye on the ship. Everyone one else was snoozing gently in their seats, except for Sally and Uno. After Rotor a had relieved her of her duties driving the Rolling Thunder, the mutated princess had tried to get some sleep. Still, after about an hour she got out of her seat, gently waking up Uno before guiding him back into the cargo hold, the expression on her face cold and serious.

"What do you want to talk about Sally?" Uno groaned, not enjoying the fact he had been waken up and then forced to stumble around in the back of the ship.

"There are a number of things I need to ask you, things I don't want the others to know about."

"And why couldn't this wait till morning?"

"Sonic and everyone else is asleep right now. If I wait till morning, there is always a chance Sonic or someone else can step in unannounced, and I don't want to risk that.

Uno yawned, shaking his head as he took a seat on a cargo crate. "What are the questions then?"

"The first is about the Roboticizer, the chamber based one's Dr. Robotnik has been using since he first attacked Mobotropolis. Rotor was studying the plans but… something wasn't right. He had me take a look at them, and since then I've locked the plans in a safe only I know the combination to."

"Why don't I like where this is going?"

Sally ignored Uno's weary tone, "The Roboticizer turns flesh into mechanical parts, but the way it's designed it would take to much power to turn a single Mobian directly into a robot. I've seen the plans… but I need to be sure. How does Dr. Robotnik work around the issue of system power. ?"

Uno shifted, looking away as his memory of Robotnik's network kicked in. "Please…Uno," Sally pressed, knowing full well the partially metallic wolf had the answer.

"If you have seen the plans you already know the answer."

"But I need to know for sure. Plans can be misread."

Uno took in a deep breath, finding it difficult to even be in the same room as Sally let alone look in her direction. "The work around for the high energy requirements is the Roboticizer turns _components_ of a Mobian's body into robotic systems a piece at a time. First the legs, then the arms, then the torso, then the head. This allows for much lower power consumption and the installation of the suppression software."

"And what about the physical design?"

"I assume you are referring to the laser saws."

Sally nodded, leaning in. "Yes".

"To…" Uno began, only to pause as he felt his courage starting to fail under Sally's expectant stare. She already knew the answer, it was clear by the expression on her face. She just wanted him to say it, to prove she was right, but even that was difficult. "Uh…… why must the world outside be so difficult."

"Uno…"

Uno nodded, "Yes, as you have probably discerned from the chamber's blueprints to Roboticize a Mobian using the design takes three steps. First is a preparation step, where the body is fed a special compound that causes it to naturally integrate with any robotic components. The second is… far more gruesome."

"Is it why Bunnie can't remember what happened when she was being roboticized, why we hear such horrible screams when it happens?"

"Yes, for in a true display of his malice Dr. Robotnik doesn't implement any system to numb the body during the second stage. Whoever goes through the roboticizer endures every step in full agony, with nothing to dull the pain of having…"

"No," Sally said, shaking her head as she stepped back, leaning against a stack of crates. She pressed her hand against her face, eyes closed. Silence passed, but slowly Sally sunk down to the ground, sitting on the floor with her back against the crates. They were all so naïve, so ignorant to the true depths of Robotnik's evil. Still, now the truth was out, and it had been haunting her dreams the past few nights. She would wake up in a cold sweat, her mind and imagination taking the truth and warping it into something much worse.

"I am sorry," Uno ventured, the silence in the back of the transport becoming unbarable.

"I can't believe Charles would design something like this."

"Well, to clarify, the designs you've been reading have been for Dr. Robonik's adaptation of the original roboticizer designed by Sir Charles Hedgehog. His didn't need to implement such… drastic measures because he was able to boost the energy in the system by using power rings, a technology Dr. Robotnik has not yet been able to replicate."

"Have… have you seen it?" Sally asked, letting her head hang down as she let her top two arms rest on her knees while her other, lower pair just laid sprawled out on the floor.

"There are camera's built into the chamber… they are on a constant recording feed. The doctor watches them on the odd occasion, but they still run… all the time."

Sally opened her eyes at this, looking at Uno sitting there. He had turned away, looking off into the distance. "You've… you've seen them all…"

"If someone was roboticized in the city, then yes… I saw it happen, saw their silent screams."

Sally just shook her head, closing her eyes as a heavy silence settled between her and Uno. The truth, it explained so much. Why were the ones who escaped partially roboticized unable to remember what happened? Why did such horrible screams come from the chamber? Why had all their attempts to reverse the process had failed? Each question answered by the unspoken truth, the one both Uno and Sally knew but couldn't bring to the surface, as if merely uttering the words would poison the air.

It was a simple truth. Due to the power required to roboticize flesh using the chambers original technology, the subject had to be roboticized in parts. In the journals Dr. Robotnik had explored numerous ways of fixing this, but had instead settled on something very simple for him but truly evil for the people being Roboticized.

After being pumped with a prepping liquid the chamber would initialize a set of laser saws. With no pain killers, no warning or mercy, the machine used the laser saws to dismember the subject. Both arms and legs were sliced off, separated from their body. And, as the person sat squirming and writhing in pain, the chamber roboticized each individual limb. Once an arm or leg was roboticized and suppression software had been installed, the part was reattached to the body. This was another terrible step in the process, the fusing of technology with the person's nervous system known to be an excruciatingly painful process, maybe even more then getting the limb cut off.

The final part of it was the worse, as the person's head was temporarily removed so that the torso, while still connected to the other body parts, was roboticized. The head was then reattached, the prepping stage of the process allowing the living flesh to graft itself to the mechanical components. Then, it was all but over as the person's head was transformed into a mass of metal and circuitry, their spirit and free will getting shackled by the suppression software.

"Uno, can I ask… How did Bunny survive the process with only three of her limbs roboticized?"

"From my memory of robotizaiton records and what I've learned about that incident, it's because she was being roboticized by an experimental mobile unit. To operate on its smaller power supply, it had to severe and re-attach each limb one at a time. Sonic had just been lucky he stopped the process when he did, before her other arm could be removed."

"And, is it truly possible to de-roboticize anyone that's been through the original chamber."

"Turning mechanical components into living flesh is possible, we have seen it done by the Roboticizer Cannon. The process of the original chamber is what cannot be reversed so easily. If a robot was disassembled and then deroboticized in pieces, as in the design of the chamber roboticizer, then there would be no way to reconnect the living components."

Sally groaned, pounding her fist against a crate in aggravation, "That was one of our biggest goals, that once Dr. Robotnik was gone we would turn everyone back to normal. But… if the process can't be reversed…."

"Sally," Uno began, "There… there was some preliminary research done on a de-roboticizer that was scrapped. It never even entered the theoretical phase, but… If you want… I can at least research the project's feasibility."

"Does it really have a chance of turning everyone back to normal?"

"I cannot say for sure, but… if you will allow me, I will try my best to develop the process. I was forced to watch so many Mobians become roboticized, I… I want to help you turn them back to normal. It is the least I can do… to pay you all back for helping me escape Dr. Robotnik. To repay the sins I have helped him commit."

"Whatever Dr. Robotnik's done, you can't blame yourself for any of it Uno. Still, I'll gladly accept any help you can give. But, until you have good news, promise me you won't talk to anyone else about this. If everyone found out that there may not be a way to reverse the Roboticization process, then the freedom fighters may fall apart at the seems. The hope of seeing our friends and family again, as flesh and bone Mobian, is a driving force behind the Freedom Fighters. If that hope left...."

"The contents of this conversation shall not be repeated to anyone." Uno replied, drawing a small smile from Sally. After staying with the mutated princess for a few minutes Uno went back to the front of the ship to go back to sleep. Sally remained seated against the boxes of cargo in the back of the ship, staring up at the ceiling.

They all had people dear to them. Friends, family, mentors, every Freedom Fighter possessing a large group of people that they wanted to save, that they were fighting for. Sure, they were fighting to save Mobius, but that was the goal of the Freedom Fighters as a whole. For each one they had a dream of being with their friends again, to see their mom and dad. Even Sonic, who wanted nothing more then to have his Uncle Chuck and his dog, Muttski back.

But the knowledge that the roboticization process may be irreversible… it was almost too much to bear. When Sally first realized the truth, even she was tempted to give up the fight. Her deepest wish, however, was different then most freedom fighters. It wasn't a question about wanting to have her father back, but to just know what happened. To know the full story, the real truth. Still, Sally now dreaded the day if or when she had to tell everyone that there was no such thing as a de-roboticizer.


End file.
